0:00:02 > 0:00:04In or out? Stay or go? Remain or leave?
0:00:04 > 0:00:08As the arguments rage about our future with the European Union,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10one simple fact is inescapable,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14we're separated from continental Europe by geography
0:00:14 > 0:00:16and, yes, history too.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21Britain has always benefited through being somewhat separate.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23We do feel, you know, different.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Partly the island nation, partly the history.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29When Britain does want to lead in Europe,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31it almost always can.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33You cannot have the same role
0:00:33 > 0:00:36as in the 19th century, so...
0:00:40 > 0:00:43For decades, one question has divided the public,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46has split parties, has felled prime ministers,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50has baffled and angered our neighbours.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Is Europe something that we are part of, or is Europe something separate?
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Is it...is it them or is it us?
0:00:56 > 0:00:59It is both...
0:00:59 > 0:01:00but we're special.
0:01:00 > 0:01:01And let's recognise that,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04let's not be ashamed of that, let's be proud of it.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06I think we see the EU as them.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09And I think, actually, this is not just us, this is now...
0:01:09 > 0:01:11Go to France, go to Germany, go to the Netherlands
0:01:11 > 0:01:14and talk about the EU and it's "them," it's Brussels.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18If people were just arriving at the door of their villa in Spain,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22I think the "us" is quite powerful.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24But when they get back home, sneakily,
0:01:24 > 0:01:27although they've been told they really shouldn't do it,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29it's a bit racist and nasty,
0:01:29 > 0:01:34erm, they do think there's a difference between them and us.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51It is the people, you, who must now decide
0:01:51 > 0:01:54whether Europe does mean them or us.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57The referendum in June will be the biggest decision
0:01:57 > 0:01:59this country has taken for decades.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02In the past, the critical judgments
0:02:02 > 0:02:05were largely made by our political leaders, their advisers,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08civil servants and diplomats,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11usually in private, rarely in public.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15This is the story of what they did and why.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19It's mighty hard to peer into the future,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22to know precisely what life will be like
0:02:22 > 0:02:25if we choose to leave or to remain in the European Union.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30But one thing we can do is look at how we got here in the first place,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33to hear from those people whose decisions got us here.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37I like some bony bits in personality, some prickly bits.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41- It was a coup d'etat.- It was following it step by step.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44They always left us options open.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46Oui, c'etait une sorte de trahison.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49It won't do! It won't do!
0:02:49 > 0:02:53There were one or two - how shall I put it? - disobliging remarks.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Oh, of course, but they were wrong.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58This wonderful treasure trove
0:02:58 > 0:03:02of interviews with the key decision-makers filmed 20 years ago,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04many of whom of course are no longer with us,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08gives us a real insight into the decision that we now face.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10There's one interview we haven't got,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14it's with the man who in many ways was the father of a united Europe.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19No, he wasn't a Frenchman, he wasn't a German, he wasn't a Belgian,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22he was, in fact, the British Bulldog himself,
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Winston Churchill.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31In the desperate days of June 1940,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Britain's new wartime leader's first instinct
0:03:34 > 0:03:39was to go for full political union, quite unthinkable today.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Churchill's plan, in a last-ditch effort to stop France
0:03:42 > 0:03:44falling to the Nazis,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48was that Britain and France would become a single country,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51an indissoluble union with one war cabinet
0:03:51 > 0:03:55running defence and the economy on both sides of the Channel.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59The British Cabinet backed it,
0:03:59 > 0:04:01but with one prophetic exception,
0:04:01 > 0:04:06they simply couldn't stomach the idea of a single currency.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11Days later France fell,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15and with it, at that stage, the idea of political union.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19CHEERING
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Straight after the war, Churchill gave the idea
0:04:22 > 0:04:24of a united Europe another push.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28'20,000 people packed the Dam, or centre of Amsterdam,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31'to give a welcome to Winston Churchill.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32'And the new song, Europe Unite,
0:04:32 > 0:04:36'was sung as he drove past on his way through the city.'
0:04:36 > 0:04:38CROWD SING EUROPE UNITE
0:04:38 > 0:04:43But it wasn't clear exactly what he meant by European union.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45CHEERING
0:04:45 > 0:04:51We cannot aim at anything less than the union of Europe as a whole.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54And we look forward with confidence to the day
0:04:54 > 0:04:56when that union will be achieved.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04He had rather a simplest view of it.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07I always likened him to Moses,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10who pointed the way to the Promised Land,
0:05:10 > 0:05:16but he never actually led the children of Israel into...into it,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20because he was old, but he did point the way
0:05:20 > 0:05:24and fired the zeal and enthusiasm of others.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Please, lift your two fingers once more
0:05:29 > 0:05:32for the V-sign, the sign of victory,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35but now the sign of winning the peace.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38CHEERING
0:05:38 > 0:05:42Churchill was never clear about what Britain's role should be.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46Should we be partners or sponsors? Players or spectators?
0:05:46 > 0:05:47Should we get involved,
0:05:47 > 0:05:52or simply encourage the grand project of unifying a continent?
0:05:52 > 0:05:54APPLAUSE
0:05:54 > 0:05:59Messieurs et mesdames...prenez garde...
0:05:59 > 0:06:01LAUGHTER
0:06:01 > 0:06:03..je vais parler francais.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05CHEERING
0:06:05 > 0:06:09He was ambiguous about Britain's role, but in the post-war talks
0:06:09 > 0:06:12he was very clear that the old enemy must be part of the club.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15APPLAUSE
0:06:15 > 0:06:17He looked round rather like a bull,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21an old bull fighting...
0:06:21 > 0:06:25and he said, "I don't see any Germans.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30"You know, you can't make Europe without Germany."
0:06:30 > 0:06:34And there was no applause anywhere.
0:06:34 > 0:06:40A deep disillusion. Here was their hero...praising the Germans.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43And it was as if he'd broken wind in public.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48So Churchill was clear, Europe couldn't be built without Germany,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51but with or without Britain?
0:06:51 > 0:06:54We've always tended to see ourselves as different.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58After all, we won the war, they lost it or were conquered.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01We had friends all over the world, they did not.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04We were suspicious of politicians' grand dreams,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08they clung on to them as they tried to recover.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13In the early 1950s, France had cast aside
0:07:13 > 0:07:17the nightmare of its recent past and was dreaming of the future.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21'There is more glamorous elegance to a square foot in the Champs-Elysees
0:07:21 > 0:07:24'than to a square mile anywhere else on Earth.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26'In the season of high fashion,
0:07:26 > 0:07:30'it becomes, how would you say, an open-air studio.'
0:07:30 > 0:07:32The French were, how would you say,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35drawing up designs not just for the Champs-Elysees,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38but for an entire continent.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40The political equivalent of Christian Dior
0:07:40 > 0:07:45was France's Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, a man with a plan.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48'World interest focuses on the Quai d'Orsay,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51as six European nations, including Western Germany,
0:07:51 > 0:07:53meet for their first working session
0:07:53 > 0:07:56on the Schuman Plan for pooling steel and coal.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00Pooling steel and coal production? Sounds exciting.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05..as of vital importance to the future of the European idea.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10They were vital because they were the ingredients of war.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14The plan's real aim was to prevent another one.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17'Our respondents know that this is a front-page story.'
0:08:17 > 0:08:20- Look, Schuman's just started to speak.- Oh, Lord! Off we go.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23"Oh, Lord! They're making Europe without us!"
0:08:23 > 0:08:25SCHUMAN SPEAKS FRENCH
0:08:25 > 0:08:28'France's Foreign Minister Robert Schuman
0:08:28 > 0:08:31'is the author of the bold, imaginative plan
0:08:31 > 0:08:33'which bears his name.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35'It is the key to the future of Europe,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38'economic as well as political.'
0:08:38 > 0:08:41The plan aimed to bind together old enemies,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44France with a Germany now led by Konrad Adenauer.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47It was as much about war and peace as coal and steel,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51politics as much as economics.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55- ADENAUER SPEAKS GERMAN - Let us act rapidly,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58because tomorrow it might be too late.
0:08:58 > 0:08:59APPLAUSE
0:08:59 > 0:09:03'But Britain, notable absentee, has not yet made up her mind.
0:09:03 > 0:09:08'Her absence begs the question, can the Schuman Plan possibly succeed?'
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Britain had the chance to join from the start.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15The very day his plan was announced,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Schuman sent his right-hand man, Jean Monnet, to London,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21in the hope Britain would sign up.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24But in the draft wording was a phrase which revealed
0:09:24 > 0:09:27it was the beginning of a grand European design.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30It's a phrase still toxic today.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32"Oh," he said, "I've got it here."
0:09:32 > 0:09:35And he took out of his pocket a piece of paper
0:09:35 > 0:09:37and gave it to us to read.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40And this was the essence of the Schuman Plan.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43And it said a condition of joining
0:09:43 > 0:09:49would be that we would accept the principle of a federal Europe.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51We said, "We don't think
0:09:51 > 0:09:54"that the government will be able to accept this.
0:09:54 > 0:10:02"Are we to understand that if we don't agree to this,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04"you don't want us in?"
0:10:04 > 0:10:06And he said, "Yes, that is the position."
0:10:06 > 0:10:09The idea of a federal Europe,
0:10:09 > 0:10:11one with powerful central institutions,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13didn't appeal to the British government.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16For three weeks, ministers sat on the fence
0:10:16 > 0:10:20until they were given 24 hours to make up their minds.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24I was just planning to go home from the Treasury at eight o'clock,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28and my secretary told me that a message had been received
0:10:28 > 0:10:32from the French that unless we had agreed to accept the whole thing
0:10:32 > 0:10:34by eight o'clock the following evening,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37we should be excluded from all further discussions.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40It was almost an ultimatum, so to speak,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42"We want a reply by such and such a date."
0:10:42 > 0:10:44Well, I said to my private secretary,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47"I can't believe such a message has been sent by the French government,"
0:10:47 > 0:10:50which up to that moment we assumed
0:10:50 > 0:10:53were a friendly and civilised government.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56And she said, "Well, that's just what all the ministers have said,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58"so we're wiring back to Paris."
0:11:00 > 0:11:04The French wired back that this really was make your mind up time,
0:11:04 > 0:11:06which posed a bit of a problem.
0:11:06 > 0:11:07The Prime Minister was away,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09the Foreign Secretary was in hospital,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12and the Chancellor of the Exchequer was ill as well.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19A Cabinet meeting was held, rather a second 11.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21There were two possible courses,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25one was to send a protest to this uncivilised diplomatic behaviour,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28and the other was to ignore it.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32We gave what was essentially a negative reply.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35And the reply was somewhat delayed,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37partly on account of the ministerial situation
0:11:37 > 0:11:40and partly because it was a very serious matter.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Europe didn't wait for Britain to jump aboard,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47France, Germany and four other founder countries
0:11:47 > 0:11:51went full steam ahead, leaving us behind.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53Monnet made it clear to us, he said,
0:11:53 > 0:11:58"We must have Britain. You can't build Europe without Britain.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02"But you will not get the British unless you first create facts.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06"Britain," he always used to say, "will never act on a hypothesis,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09"it will only act on facts."
0:12:11 > 0:12:15We came out of the war with the fact,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18although to some extent an illusion, of being a victor state.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20We had so many other interests worldwide.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26So I think it's not surprising that we didn't go barging in.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30And I'm rather surprised that we've gone in as far as we have.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35That fateful decision, taken in a rush by a group of junior ministers,
0:12:35 > 0:12:37was only the first of many
0:12:37 > 0:12:40on which British politicians decided we were different.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44We could sit things out, we could wait for it all to go wrong.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47The result was that the rules of the European club
0:12:47 > 0:12:50were drawn up to suit them and not us.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55That's something that has bedevilled Britain's relationship with Europe ever since.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00Britain's problem with Europe is that we didn't invent it
0:13:00 > 0:13:02and weren't there at the origin.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05And as a result of that, we've always felt that Europe
0:13:05 > 0:13:07was something kind of done to us
0:13:07 > 0:13:12and something that we were always...somewhat on the fringe of.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14MUSIC: Chorus Of The Hebrew Slaves by Verdi
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Britain was to get a second chance
0:13:23 > 0:13:28as a result of what happened on the fringe at the other side of Europe.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Messina on the island of Sicily
0:13:32 > 0:13:35now boasts of being the birthplace of a united Europe.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Back in 1955, it played host to the ministers
0:13:43 > 0:13:46of the European coal and steel community,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49who dreamt of doing so much more.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55They wanted to fuse their economies into a common market,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58to create common European institutions
0:13:58 > 0:14:01to harmonise their social policies.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06We thought it was little more than a dream.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08People didn't really believe that Europe
0:14:08 > 0:14:10was going to be a going concern, I remember it so well,
0:14:10 > 0:14:14because Europe had made a hash of things so often.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17The story is that the government had said
0:14:17 > 0:14:22that Messina was too outlandish a place to send a British civil servant to.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Whether that's true or not, I can't tell you,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27but that was certainly the feeling in those days...
0:14:27 > 0:14:31that Britain was outside.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Britain did choose to stay on the outside
0:14:35 > 0:14:38when invited to further talks in Brussels
0:14:38 > 0:14:42about how to turn the Messina dream into reality.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49We could have had the leadership of Europe on our own terms,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52if we'd started a little bit earlier,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55but we didn't and we missed the bus.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59There was this yearning for British leadership.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Every time they dreamed up something,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06in the famous words of Mrs Thatcher, we said, "No, no, no!"
0:15:06 > 0:15:08And we wouldn't have anything to do with it.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10And this was one of the reasons
0:15:10 > 0:15:14why I begged to go to those early discussions.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19Rather than sending a senior minister, or indeed any minister,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22we sent Mr Russell Bretherton,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25a middle-ranking official from the Board of Trade.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32His contributions to discussions were mainly giving the impression
0:15:32 > 0:15:37that he was trying to sow doubt about what we were doing.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Asking questions such as,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42"You do not really believe that a customs union
0:15:42 > 0:15:44"would be possible among countries like you?"
0:15:44 > 0:15:48And, "You do not really believe that it would ever be possible
0:15:48 > 0:15:52"to create a common agricultural market?" I mean, that sort of contribution.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56He was sucking a pipe most of the time, but...
0:15:56 > 0:15:58And looking at us
0:15:58 > 0:16:01like he was a teacher of a naughty class of children.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04He bowed out, on instructions from London, of course,
0:16:04 > 0:16:09saying that London thought that they knew now enough
0:16:09 > 0:16:11about what the validity was of the proposal,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14that he had come to the conclusion that it would never work
0:16:14 > 0:16:19and that, therefore, there was no sense in him wasting any more time and energy.
0:16:19 > 0:16:20We didn't bother about it,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23because he had not been playing a very active role.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26And we thought maybe he'd come back tomorrow,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28but he didn't come back and we never saw him again.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31MUSIC: Chorus Of The Hebrew Slaves by Verdi
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Once again, the six went ahead without Britain.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40In 1957, they signed the Treaty of Rome
0:16:40 > 0:16:43to create the European Economic Community
0:16:43 > 0:16:47on what was the seat of power in Ancient Rome.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50This was no mere common market.
0:16:50 > 0:16:56The moment of emotion was the day we signed the treaty in Rome.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59There is what's left of the Roman Empire
0:16:59 > 0:17:01and we all felt that we all belonged
0:17:01 > 0:17:04to the same cult of the same civilisation.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08We felt very strongly to be home.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11One young German MP, who would go on to lead his country,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13was so dismayed by Britain's absence
0:17:13 > 0:17:17that he couldn't bring himself to vote to ratify the treaty.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Britain was not in it and I thought this was a major mistake.
0:17:21 > 0:17:22I was a convinced European,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26but if Britain was not a member, I thought it would go wrong,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28and, therefore, I did abstain.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30'For thousands of years,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33'frontiers have dominated the life of continental Europe.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37'And at the frontier most things come to a stop.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40'And now this age-old system is being changed.'
0:17:41 > 0:17:43This is where many of today's arguments
0:17:43 > 0:17:47about freedom of movement and free trade began.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Back in the 1950s, you had to queue up at customs,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54have your passport checked every time you drove across the border
0:17:54 > 0:17:57between continental countries.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00Lorries had to wait for hours at a time.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03The big idea enshrined in the Treaty of Rome
0:18:03 > 0:18:05was that citizens of the new European club
0:18:05 > 0:18:10should be free, not just to buy and sell and shift money across frontiers,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13but to move freely as well.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16'In the Common Market the barriers are gradually coming down,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19'the barriers to trade, the barriers to the free movement...'
0:18:19 > 0:18:24Western Europe began to recover from the war faster than anyone had expected.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28'And Europe is on the way to unity on the trade winds of change.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30'At the speed she's going,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34'the European Community will be rid of all artificial barriers to trade by 1970.'
0:18:39 > 0:18:42But Britain was in no rush to change the old ways.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45We had a new Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49who embodied British ambivalence to Europe.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52He'd served in Churchill's wartime government
0:18:52 > 0:18:56and built a close relationship with the leader of the Free French, General de Gaulle.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58But Macmillan had become alarmed
0:18:58 > 0:19:02by the rapid economic growth of Western Europe, particularly Germany.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05He reckoned at first that Britain could only score
0:19:05 > 0:19:08if we knobbled Europe's new club.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Macmillan was completely hostile.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15He said, "You're going to ruin our trade.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17"This is the end of our trade.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20"We cannot accept that. And I'm going to fight you."
0:19:24 > 0:19:26Macmillan wasn't to fight for very long,
0:19:26 > 0:19:31he was to lead the country through an extraordinary U-turn in its attitude to Europe.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34Why is revealed in these government papers,
0:19:34 > 0:19:37held in the National Archives at Kew.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40In a memo written before the Common Market was formed,
0:19:40 > 0:19:42before Macmillan was Prime Minister, he writes,
0:19:42 > 0:19:44"It may be very dangerous to us.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48"For perhaps Messina," those talks that set up the Common Market,
0:19:48 > 0:19:54"will come off after all and that will mean Western Europe dominated in fact by Germany,
0:19:54 > 0:19:59"and used as an instrument for the revival of German power through economic means.
0:19:59 > 0:20:05"It is really giving them on a plate what we fought two wars to prevent."
0:20:05 > 0:20:09He signs off, "I don't want this matter to slide.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12"I believe it may be one of the most difficult
0:20:12 > 0:20:15"that we have to deal with in the next few years. HM."
0:20:15 > 0:20:21HM was eventually to conclude that if you can't beat them, join them.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26The change itself came enormously suddenly.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28The ground had been shifting below,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31but the buildings had not shifted on top.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34And suddenly, in June 1960,
0:20:34 > 0:20:38Macmillan circulated to Cabinet colleagues
0:20:38 > 0:20:42a note asking for their departments' views
0:20:42 > 0:20:45about the advantages and the disadvantages
0:20:45 > 0:20:48of joining the Community. And, I think,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51to most people in Whitehall this struck like a thunderbolt.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58'Goodbye, England. You wave and you're off for the day,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01'off to the continent for a day of wine and wonders
0:21:01 > 0:21:03'and back in time for a goodnight cup of cocoa.'
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Soon British diplomats were waving goodbye to England,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10popping over to the Continent to get negotiating.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13'There'll be land ahoy. A foreign land, France,
0:21:13 > 0:21:14'yet so close to our own country
0:21:14 > 0:21:18'that a passport really does seem a most absurd formality.'
0:21:22 > 0:21:24The minister Macmillan put in charge
0:21:24 > 0:21:27would become the leading man in Britain's European drama.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30His name was Edward Heath.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33His challenge, to find ways to bring the British economy
0:21:33 > 0:21:36and British trade into line with the rules of the Common Market,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39which we'd had no part in writing.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44That meant ending the special deals we'd had with the Commonwealth.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47He and his team spent 15 long months in Brussels,
0:21:47 > 0:21:52haggling over everything from cars to fish to poultry.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56We couldn't open the windows because the traffic and the trams
0:21:56 > 0:21:58made too much of a noise outside.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02The atmosphere inside the room, the physical atmosphere,
0:22:02 > 0:22:04was quite appalling.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07You have to remember that in those days,
0:22:07 > 0:22:13probably 50, 60, 70% of the people attending the conference smoked like chimneys.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17And, of those, probably one third smoked cigars.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20And the impact of that on the human frame
0:22:20 > 0:22:23was at times nearly intolerable.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27'In Brussels, Mr Heath has fashioned for himself a political stature
0:22:27 > 0:22:29'he's never quite achieved before.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32'People ask if he might not be the next prime minister but one.'
0:22:32 > 0:22:37Macmillan took a back seat whilst Ted Heath took over the driving.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40I was there the whole time.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44Any other minister who was invited and hadn't been there,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46and, obviously, couldn't know when he came
0:22:46 > 0:22:48what the atmosphere was like,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51what things had to be avoided, what things could be pressed.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54And, therefore, in order to avoid any difficulties
0:22:54 > 0:22:58arising from their position, it was much better I should keep the whole thing under control.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04'The whole future balance of power is being discussed here
0:23:04 > 0:23:07'in terms of the relative number of eggs laid by hens
0:23:07 > 0:23:09'in Denmark and France.'
0:23:09 > 0:23:14There was always friction with the Ministry of Agriculture.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19Ted explained in political terms that the moment of truth had come,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21that the nonsense had got to stop,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25that big concessions had now got to be made.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29And he then said, "Now, what are they?"
0:23:29 > 0:23:36And he began extracting these concessions, personally, one by one.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40On the home front, a battle began for public support,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43a little like today's, a little.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47'This programme is going to be about Britain and Europe.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49'It's one of the great issues of the day.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52'And rightly so, for much depends upon it.'
0:23:52 > 0:23:55'Why have we entered into these negotiations
0:23:55 > 0:23:57'with the European Economic Community?
0:23:57 > 0:24:01'There are powerful political and economic reasons
0:24:01 > 0:24:03'why we have done so.'
0:24:03 > 0:24:07It was not said that the Community had no political content
0:24:07 > 0:24:10but it was argued, and argued very strongly,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13that it was a primarily economic community.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Now, actually, that is not true.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21I think that some of the people who said that knew it was not true.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Opponents of the Common Market argued then, as they do now,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30that being in the European club would undermine our sovereignty.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Leading the charge, Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Europe now became the great party-splitter.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44For we are not just a part of Europe, at least not yet.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46We have a different history.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51We have ties and links which run across the whole world.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53If this is the idea,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55the end of Britain as an independent nation state -
0:24:55 > 0:25:01I make no apology for repeating it - the end of 1,000 years of history,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03you may say, "All right, let it end,"
0:25:03 > 0:25:04but, my goodness,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07it's a decision that needs a little care and thought.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10APPLAUSE
0:25:10 > 0:25:14To find that our hero was actually saying that the Common Market
0:25:14 > 0:25:17represented the end of 1,000 years of British history,
0:25:17 > 0:25:19that our borders were not on the Rhine,
0:25:19 > 0:25:25they were on the Himalayas, and so forth, was a terrible shock.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28I mean, it was actually a kind of personal agony.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31I'd had a very long lunch with him in the Garrick Club,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34about two to three weeks beforehand,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37in which we'd tried to reach common ground,
0:25:37 > 0:25:39and we'd gone until about 4.30pm.
0:25:39 > 0:25:40Everybody else had gone,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43and he was pacing up and down in the small back room there,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46but the more we talked, the further apart we got,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50so, in that sense, it wasn't a shock to me, except that I...
0:25:50 > 0:25:53As he made various points of "1,000 years of history",
0:25:53 > 0:25:57I thought, "Oh, Christ, it's even worse than I thought."
0:25:59 > 0:26:02It was a Tory, 68-year-old Harold Macmillan,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06who came to see Europe as this country's modern future
0:26:06 > 0:26:07and asked to be let in.
0:26:10 > 0:26:11First, though,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14he needed to woo France's President Charles de Gaulle,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17to persuade him to say "oui" to Britain joining.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21Negotiations in Brussels seemed to be going well,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25but the summit at Rambouillet was to give Macmillan a shock.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29MAN SPEAKS IN FRENCH
0:27:09 > 0:27:14MUSIC: Milord by Edith Piaf
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Macmillan's charm offensive had failed.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21De Gaulle spelt out why to his Cabinet,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24in words noted down by his Information Minister.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57# Mais vous pleurez, Milord
0:27:58 > 0:28:01# Ca, je l'aurais jamais cru... #
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Macmillan didn't actually cry in front of his French hosts
0:28:10 > 0:28:12but, on the way home, he was in tears.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15He kept de Gaulle's rebuff to himself,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19leaving Heath and his team to soldier on in Brussels.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21# Allez riez, Milord
0:28:21 > 0:28:24# Allez chantez, Milord... #
0:28:27 > 0:28:32"No disaster at Rambouillet. It passed off OK."
0:28:32 > 0:28:34That's the message that we read.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36Well, we read it wrong.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39A few days later, de Gaulle went public to
0:28:39 > 0:28:43"squash" - his word - Britain's Common Market application,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46at an electrifying press conference in Paris.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48800 journalists hung on his every word.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03LAUGHTER
0:29:09 > 0:29:12The mood in the delegation was of fury -
0:29:12 > 0:29:15fury at the arrogance of the man.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30My reaction was, "This is going to be front page news
0:29:30 > 0:29:32"in every newspaper in the world."
0:30:06 > 0:30:11It was like thunder had struck in the room.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14We were all flabbergasted.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41Each phrase was a new nail in the coffin of the negotiations
0:30:41 > 0:30:46and I think only by the end of it did we all realise that this was,
0:30:46 > 0:30:49in fact, tantamount to a veto.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52# Mais vous pleurez, Milord... #
0:30:52 > 0:30:56Macmillan's silent agony at the betrayal by a wartime colleague
0:30:56 > 0:30:59finally boiled over.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03If there was an objection in principle,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06we should surely have been told so from the start.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12'A staggering blow is dealt to
0:31:12 > 0:31:14'Western unity in this council hall
0:31:14 > 0:31:18'in Brussels, when France blackballs Britain from the Common Market.'
0:31:18 > 0:31:21The formal veto came from de Gaulle's Foreign Minister,
0:31:21 > 0:31:25Maurice Couve de Murville, who, only two weeks before,
0:31:25 > 0:31:29had convinced Ted Heath that British entry would not be blocked.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34Couve laid the blame entirely on the British.
0:31:34 > 0:31:35That we were...
0:31:35 > 0:31:38We refused to accept community disciplines here and there
0:31:38 > 0:31:39and so on.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42You asked about my own reaction.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44I had thought, when we went in there,
0:31:44 > 0:31:47that Couve de Murville was going to have
0:31:47 > 0:31:50a very embarrassing, difficult passage,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54explaining the inexplicable.
0:31:54 > 0:31:59But, in fact, I felt exceedingly angry as time went by.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03I thought that what he was saying was so outrageous,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06any sympathy I might have had for him quickly evaporated.
0:32:18 > 0:32:23Edward Heath, then unbelievably calm,
0:32:23 > 0:32:26took up Couve's points, one by one.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30He didn't say, "This is an outrageous travesty," and so on.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34In judicial fashion, really -
0:32:34 > 0:32:38the learned, QC-type approach -
0:32:38 > 0:32:41he destroyed all these arguments,
0:32:41 > 0:32:43pointing out that we had agreed to this. We had agreed to that.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45We had agreed to that.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47He completely demolished Couve's argument.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52The French were very definitely "them"
0:32:52 > 0:32:53but, on this occasion,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56the other five member states almost became "us".
0:32:58 > 0:33:00The British delegation got up to go
0:33:00 > 0:33:04and all the five ministers -
0:33:04 > 0:33:09not Couve, but the representatives of the other member states -
0:33:09 > 0:33:11all lined up to congratulate...
0:33:11 > 0:33:14At least, it's... I say that, and it's a slip of the tongue,
0:33:14 > 0:33:16but it's an interesting slip of the tongue.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19Because it was... It was a very warm farewell.
0:33:19 > 0:33:24These hard-nosed, very experienced old hands,
0:33:24 > 0:33:29I was surprised to see so many of them visibly moved,
0:33:29 > 0:33:31and moved to the point of tears.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33Do you accept it was a betrayal by the French?
0:33:38 > 0:33:39Oui, c'est vrai.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45I can still see Couve de Murville,
0:33:45 > 0:33:47at the far end of the table on the right, back to the window,
0:33:47 > 0:33:49sort of laughing with...
0:33:49 > 0:33:53In retrospect, I think they must have found it acutely embarrassing.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59# Thank God for Englishmen
0:33:59 > 0:34:01# And not Common Market scum
0:34:01 > 0:34:06# For why should we be pally with the wogs who started Calais?
0:34:06 > 0:34:09# Old de Gaulle may be ten feet tall and think he's Napoleon
0:34:09 > 0:34:14# But the French wash every three days on bidets
0:34:14 > 0:34:18# The Herrenvolk are a standing joke with their shorts and hairy knees
0:34:18 > 0:34:20# And the poor old Dutch do nothing much
0:34:20 > 0:34:22# But smell very faintly of cheese
0:34:22 > 0:34:24# An Italian beau always says hello
0:34:24 > 0:34:26# With a squeeze of the finger and thumb... #
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Thank you.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30# So thank God for Englishmen
0:34:30 > 0:34:32# And not Common Market
0:34:32 > 0:34:33# Not Common Market
0:34:33 > 0:34:35# Not Common Market scum. #
0:34:35 > 0:34:37We tend to forget our failures -
0:34:37 > 0:34:41we forget our humiliations, in the sense it was a humiliation -
0:34:41 > 0:34:44so it's wiped from the public memory.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47Nevertheless, to my mind, it was the moment,
0:34:47 > 0:34:54that day in January 1963, when Britain turned towards Europe.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58The United Kingdom had made its decision for Europe.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00From that moment on, whatever the frustrations,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03there could be no going back.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06There's nothing like being barred from a club to make you
0:35:06 > 0:35:07desperate to join it.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11It took a "non" from the old enemy across the Channel
0:35:11 > 0:35:14to persuade the British to say yes to Europe,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17and Ted Heath, the man thwarted by de Gaulle,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20became obsessed with overturning the French veto.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24He said that our membership of the Common Market would only work
0:35:24 > 0:35:28with the full-hearted consent of Parliament and people -
0:35:28 > 0:35:32perhaps that's where the trouble began.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35- CHEERING - Our purpose is not to divide
0:35:35 > 0:35:37but to unite.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39I'm worn out. I've been shopping for six hours.
0:35:39 > 0:35:41What have you bought?
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Nothing. Nothing at all.
0:35:43 > 0:35:44A complete waste of time!
0:35:44 > 0:35:46- Wicked, isn't it?- Wicked?
0:35:46 > 0:35:48It'll be worse when we join the Common Market.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52That nice Mr Heath would never allow that!
0:35:52 > 0:35:56HE PLAYS ORGAN
0:35:56 > 0:35:59That night, Mr Heath was a man of deeply-held passions -
0:35:59 > 0:36:03for music, for sailing, but, above all, for Europe.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06He wanted to be the maestro who would lead his country
0:36:06 > 0:36:10into the European ensemble.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14In the 1930s, he'd seen for himself the horrors of Nazi Germany.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19In the war, he took part in the D-Day landings.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22He believed that only a united Europe,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25with Britain at its heart, could prevent another war.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32De Gaulle's successor as French President, Georges Pompidou,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35was ready to listen.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37Heath had already struck up a friendship with
0:36:37 > 0:36:39Pompidou's right-hand man.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10Heath asked Winston Churchill's son-in-law, Christopher Soames,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13who was Britain's ambassador to France,
0:37:13 > 0:37:15to open secret talks with Pompidou.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22His task was to prevent another French veto.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28One aspect of it was the astonishing fact that
0:37:28 > 0:37:32President Pompidou conducted
0:37:32 > 0:37:37these very important talks without the knowledge of
0:37:37 > 0:37:40either his own Prime Minister, Chaban-Delmas,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43or his Foreign Secretary, Maurice Schumann.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46It seems quite extraordinary, but it was so.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53After six months of talking,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56the two sides were ready for a leaders' summit in Paris,
0:37:56 > 0:38:01its aim, to erase the painful memories of a decade earlier -
0:38:01 > 0:38:05to convert that French "non" into an enthusiastic "oui".
0:38:07 > 0:38:09I knew that, to settle all of this,
0:38:09 > 0:38:11it had to be the French President who did it,
0:38:11 > 0:38:13and the only person who could, with the French President,
0:38:13 > 0:38:15was myself as Prime Minister.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19At the Elysee Palace, scene of the vital talks on
0:38:19 > 0:38:21the Common Market,
0:38:21 > 0:38:23between the French President Monsieur Pompidou
0:38:23 > 0:38:25and our Prime Minister.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27The talks are regarded as the final make-or-break attempt to
0:38:27 > 0:38:30get Britain into the European Economic Community.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35Ted Heath was a very thorough man,
0:38:35 > 0:38:36and I remember him sitting out,
0:38:36 > 0:38:38and people coming and talking to him
0:38:38 > 0:38:40about New Zealand butter,
0:38:40 > 0:38:42talking to him about the sterling area,
0:38:42 > 0:38:44talking about the financial arrangements...
0:38:44 > 0:38:48Talking to him so that he really absorbed into himself
0:38:48 > 0:38:51the detail of the discussion.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55Heath hadn't just mastered the detail -
0:38:55 > 0:39:00a man often seen as stiff and icy switched on his biggest smile.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03He'd cooked up a plan to win over French hearts
0:39:03 > 0:39:06by appealing to their stomachs.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08Ambassador Soames, a well-known bon viveur,
0:39:08 > 0:39:12invited the President and his wife to leave the presidential palace
0:39:12 > 0:39:15and join Heath for lunch at the British Embassy instead.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19A good deal would be easy to swallow after a good meal.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48And I remember we had salmon with a mayonnaise...
0:39:48 > 0:39:51with a mint mayonnaise to start with.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Actually, it was a sea trout which had come down from Scotland.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56We had English lamb, I think it was,
0:39:56 > 0:40:00and we had some seriously spectacular wines.
0:40:00 > 0:40:07Which was, I think, a '55 claret and a '35 port,
0:40:07 > 0:40:12and I think we had Chateau d'Yquem, with a very exciting sweet.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14All in real Soames style.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17Inside the embassy, if there'd been any doubt about the prevailing
0:40:17 > 0:40:20atmosphere between the two heads of government,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23that was dispelled at once in the way they reacted to each other.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26It seemed to bear out this evening's headline,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29in English, in the Paris newspaper France Soir,
0:40:29 > 0:40:32"Pompidou-Heath Smiling Day."
0:40:32 > 0:40:35The two leaders returned to the Elysee Palace for
0:40:35 > 0:40:39a historic press conference, in a room still remembered by many.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45This was the very room in which de Gaulle had pronounced the veto
0:40:45 > 0:40:49and, when Pompidou made his famous remark,
0:40:49 > 0:40:53"There are those who say that France is determined to exclude Britain,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56"and there are those who say that Britain is...
0:40:56 > 0:40:57"does not have a European vocation,
0:40:57 > 0:41:01"and you see before you two men who are convinced of the contrary"...
0:41:01 > 0:41:04Ils sont convaincus du cointraire.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07..it was a marvellous moment.
0:41:07 > 0:41:08I had no idea he was going to
0:41:08 > 0:41:11say anything of that kind,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14and, at this moment, I...
0:41:14 > 0:41:17When I had recovered myself, because I was moved by this,
0:41:17 > 0:41:19I looked at the correspondents
0:41:19 > 0:41:25and there were many wet eyes in the room.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29Macmillan's tears of pain had been replaced by tears of joy.
0:41:29 > 0:41:30How's it going, Prime Minister?
0:41:30 > 0:41:33The French veto was a thing of the past.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS All that was left to do was to
0:41:39 > 0:41:40settle those negotiations
0:41:40 > 0:41:45in Brussels about the little things, like the cost of food and money(!)
0:41:45 > 0:41:47We were left, simply, at the end,
0:41:47 > 0:41:49with New Zealand dairy products,
0:41:49 > 0:41:51taking cheese and milk together,
0:41:51 > 0:41:53and our contribution to the budgets.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59On the third day of a marathon session, the deal was done.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03The great windows at the end of the council chamber were blood red
0:42:03 > 0:42:05with the dawn, and people began to clap
0:42:05 > 0:42:08and we felt that there had been a turning point in history
0:42:08 > 0:42:10and then the champagne was produced.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14Beautiful. Lovely.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18You can turn it into a loving cup...
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Ca commence bien.
0:42:20 > 0:42:21You can have the other side of the glass.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25But there were those back home who weren't in love with Europe.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28'Tower Bridge was opened when a mini armada of England's fishermen
0:42:28 > 0:42:31'sailed their boats up the Thames to protest against the
0:42:31 > 0:42:34'government's fishing terms for entering into the Common Market.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37'The men were making the trip upriver because they believe that Mr Rippon,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41'Britain's chief Common Market negotiator, is selling them down the river.'
0:42:42 > 0:42:45It all went very well.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48I mean, there was general approval of what had been achieved.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51Obviously, critics were still saying we'd given away too much,
0:42:51 > 0:42:54but the general impression was that it was all right. It was virtually over.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58Far from it. Getting a deal in Europe is one thing,
0:42:58 > 0:43:02getting a deal in the House of Commons is quite another.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05A Prime Minister faced with a divided party simply needs
0:43:05 > 0:43:08the votes of MPs in other parties. Sound familiar?
0:43:08 > 0:43:13Ted Heath in the '70s faced the same problem as David Cameron does today.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18He, too, faced accusations of using tricks and ruses.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21The first of which was to say to Tory MPs,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24you can vote how you like on Europe.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28His real intention was to reach out to Labour's pro-Europeans
0:43:28 > 0:43:32to tell them - vote with your conscience, vote with me.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38It was a plan dreamt up just down the road in Downing Street,
0:43:38 > 0:43:40by the Tory Chief Whip Francis Pym.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46Our overall majority in the Commons was only 25
0:43:46 > 0:43:49and we had something like 18 determined anti-marketeers,
0:43:49 > 0:43:52so that our majority on this issue,
0:43:52 > 0:43:56if the Labour Party were united against us, was clearly extremely vulnerable.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00But the Labour Party was split.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04While most of its MPs were anti, some of its senior figures
0:44:04 > 0:44:08were passionately devoted to the cause of taking Britain into Europe.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13It is an opportunity which offers great benefits for us
0:44:13 > 0:44:16and great benefits for Europe as a whole.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21Harold Wilson, Labour's leader, did what so many have done over the years,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24he fudged and waffled and played for time.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27I'm not going to say we should go in whatever the terms,
0:44:27 > 0:44:29I'm not going to say we should stay out.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31We must wait for the terms.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36But once the terms were known, Wilson had to come off the fence.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40In fact, he was pushed off it by a speech given by his own
0:44:40 > 0:44:43Shadow Foreign Secretary James Callaghan.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48If we have to prove our Europeanism by accepting that French is the
0:44:48 > 0:44:51dominant language in the Community,
0:44:51 > 0:44:53then my answer is quite clear
0:44:53 > 0:44:58and I will say it in French in order to prevent any misunderstanding.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00Non. Merci beaucoup.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03LAUGHTER
0:45:03 > 0:45:06But it was Heath who had the last laugh.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09'The great Parliamentary debate on Europe was fought for six days
0:45:09 > 0:45:10'on the floor of the House.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13'Many MPs have described it as the greatest debate in Britain's
0:45:13 > 0:45:15'parliamentary history.'
0:45:15 > 0:45:18Dozens of Labour MPs broke ranks with their leader, voting with
0:45:18 > 0:45:24a Tory prime minister, and their consciences, to say yes to Europe.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28We watched, sort of, hawk-like as each person broke away
0:45:28 > 0:45:31and came into the lobby and everybody was being watched
0:45:31 > 0:45:34very closely to see what way they went and how they voted.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38But we had a sense, almost, I think, of solidarity that made it
0:45:38 > 0:45:40actually quite hard not to vote in the yes lobby.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44And then the tellers came in
0:45:44 > 0:45:46and this enormous majority was announced.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50Mainly because Roy Jenkins had had the courage to lead 68 Labour MPs
0:45:50 > 0:45:52into the Ayes lobby to vote for it.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54And there was pandemonium on the Labour benches.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57RAUCOUS SHOUTING
0:45:57 > 0:45:59It's one of the few times, I think ever, I've heard
0:45:59 > 0:46:02in the House of Commons bad language being used.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05You know, it's not the kind of thing you normally do.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07But bad language was used that night!
0:46:08 > 0:46:12I remember someone crying out at Roy Jenkins, "Fascist bastard."
0:46:12 > 0:46:14It was an ugly moment.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18There were one or two - how should I put it? - disobliging remarks.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21'The parliamentary vote was in favour of joining the six
0:46:21 > 0:46:23'with a majority of 112 for the government.'
0:46:25 > 0:46:27CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:46:31 > 0:46:34To celebrate, Harold Macmillan, the man who the French had snubbed,
0:46:34 > 0:46:37lit a bonfire on the white cliffs of Dover.
0:46:37 > 0:46:42Just as they'd done in Churchill's day to celebrate victory in Europe.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47Heath headed to Brussels to sign the treaty which would bind
0:46:47 > 0:46:51the UK into the European Economic community.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55It created quite a splash.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58Well, I remember, you know, we marched into the great gathering,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02when somebody threw a bottle of ink over Ted Heath.
0:47:02 > 0:47:07Most unfortunate - not normal ink, but Indian ink, black and sticky -
0:47:07 > 0:47:09very accurately by a German lady.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12Mr Heath was thrust into a lift and somebody pressed a button
0:47:12 > 0:47:14and he disappeared.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18It's almost unbelievable, but it took about quarter of an hour to find him.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22The problem was, to clean up the Prime Minister.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25The ink had gone over his head as well,
0:47:25 > 0:47:27in his hair and one side of his face
0:47:27 > 0:47:29and it was very difficult to shift.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34An hour behind schedule, Heath arrived to sign the treaty.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40He was well aware that before it could become law, he would face
0:47:40 > 0:47:43many more hours of parliamentary debates and manoeuvres.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49At least he knew that his young, loyal MPs were sharing in the celebrations.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53I supported Ted Heath
0:47:53 > 0:47:57and I supported him wholeheartedly...
0:47:58 > 0:48:00..in the eventual signing of the treaty.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05Well, we can all be foolish in our youth.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08It's much better to be foolish in your youth
0:48:08 > 0:48:11and discover wisdom in your old age than the other way around!
0:48:12 > 0:48:15But there were others on the Tory benches who saw the whole
0:48:15 > 0:48:19European adventure as not just foolish but a threat.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25Enoch Powell had backed Heath's efforts to get us in in the 1960s.
0:48:25 > 0:48:30Now, though, he savaged the Prime Minister for betraying his nation.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34I do not believe
0:48:34 > 0:48:38that this nation, which has maintained and defended
0:48:38 > 0:48:42its independence for 1,000 years,
0:48:42 > 0:48:47will now submit to see it merged or lost.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51Nor did I become a member
0:48:51 > 0:48:56of our sovereign parliament in order to consent
0:48:56 > 0:49:02to that sovereignty being abated or transferred.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Heath believed that by sharing sovereignty in Europe,
0:49:07 > 0:49:10Britain's influence in the world would grow.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14But he knew Powell and his small band of supporters could link up with Labour.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17They could wreck the legislation required to enshrine
0:49:17 > 0:49:19the treaty in British law.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25So, he kept the European Communities Bill very short.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29It may have been far-reaching, but it had just 12 clauses,
0:49:29 > 0:49:31making the wreckers' job harder.
0:49:32 > 0:49:37The simplicity of the bill overwhelmed all that saw it.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40I think the government was as delighted with it
0:49:40 > 0:49:42as the opposition was horrified by it.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45But of course we can stop them.
0:49:45 > 0:49:50The mountain of legislation required for that purpose can be held up
0:49:50 > 0:49:56in Parliament until we get what British democracy requires -
0:49:56 > 0:49:57the right to choose.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02The opposition had thought that it might be a 1,000 clause bill.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04Of course, but they were wrong...
0:50:05 > 0:50:08..and those who were opposed to it, like Michael Foot,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11wanted to have the greatest possible excuse for holding up the whole
0:50:11 > 0:50:14thing for years and wrecking it.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17That's why they demanded 1,000 clauses.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20There was no justification for it.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28Now all that was needed was to make sure that Tory MPs stayed loyal,
0:50:28 > 0:50:31another job for the party whips.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34Those who would support the government through thick and thin,
0:50:34 > 0:50:38because they were Europeans in their outlook, we called "the robust".
0:50:38 > 0:50:43And we indicated them on our daily list with a blue sign, a blue tick.
0:50:44 > 0:50:49On the other extreme, would be those who we could never persuade
0:50:49 > 0:50:52and they would have some good reasons, some bad reasons
0:50:52 > 0:50:55for voting against the government and we gave them the
0:50:55 > 0:50:57collective title of "the shits"
0:50:57 > 0:50:59and we marked them off with a brown pencil.
0:50:59 > 0:51:04And then in the middle, there was a larger group than the others,
0:51:04 > 0:51:07which we called "the wets".
0:51:07 > 0:51:11And it was a term, in fact, invented by the then Chief Whip Francis Pym.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14Any loss of a vote or any setback
0:51:14 > 0:51:17in the course of this passage was a blow to the whole
0:51:17 > 0:51:19standing of the government and the whole position.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21So, the stakes just could not have been higher.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31But with anti-Common Market demonstrators on the streets,
0:51:31 > 0:51:36accusing Heath of betraying Britain, he needed every vote he could get.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Pro-Market Labour rebels didn't have the nerve to keep
0:51:39 > 0:51:41defying their party en bloc.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46So, Heath's party managers had one more ruse,
0:51:46 > 0:51:50they did secret deals with sympathetic Labour MPs.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55The Labour Party knew, and those pro-Europeans in the Labour Party
0:51:55 > 0:51:59knew, that I wasn't asking for anything excessive
0:51:59 > 0:52:03but I had my back to the wall and when we needed a bit of help,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06they provided it and they knew we were not asking for anything excessive.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11We always knew and the whips knew, that if they were wanted, they would come.
0:52:14 > 0:52:15How did you know that?
0:52:15 > 0:52:17In the usual way.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22A secret back channel was arranged between the government
0:52:22 > 0:52:25and pro-Common Market Labour MPs.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30For years afterwards, those in the know still didn't want to talk openly about it.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36There was no collusion in which I was involved,
0:52:36 > 0:52:40but the government was never defeated.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46I think I was, sort of, kept away from anything like that.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49People disappeared, they went to films, they just didn't show up and so forth.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52There was quite a bit of quiet understanding that there were
0:52:52 > 0:52:55certain amendments where it was better for people to just find
0:52:55 > 0:53:00themselves speaking at a meeting in Little Gainsborough or something
0:53:00 > 0:53:01so that they wouldn't be there.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06Details of the secret channel were kept by a little-known
0:53:06 > 0:53:10Labour backbencher, John Roper, in a big red book.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15Its pages enabled him to guarantee there would be just enough
0:53:15 > 0:53:20Labour abstentions for Heath's government to win every vote.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23The tactic was to try and ensure that we got the bill through,
0:53:23 > 0:53:30but without having a phalanx of 20-25 Labour pro-Europeans
0:53:30 > 0:53:33who were abstaining right through the bill.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36I knew the people who I could rely on and I knew others who
0:53:36 > 0:53:39I could turn to when it was necessary.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42It was a secret, it was a secret arrangement.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46I mean, everybody knew what was happening, how it was happening
0:53:46 > 0:53:50nobody quite knew, and that seemed to me very satisfactory.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56It was enough to seal Britain's membership of the European Community, now the EU.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00It was not enough to silence those dismayed that we'd joined
0:54:00 > 0:54:04without the full-hearted consent of Parliament and people.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11In Brussels, British residents saw in the New Year with
0:54:11 > 0:54:16a celebration of the fact that Europe now meant "us", not "them".
0:54:16 > 0:54:19'Officially, we became members at midnight local time,
0:54:19 > 0:54:22'but to make doubly sure they kept things going for another hour
0:54:22 > 0:54:26'until midnight Greenwich Time sounded in London.'
0:54:26 > 0:54:29I don't think people understood, they didn't care,
0:54:29 > 0:54:32they didn't take any notice of a bill being passed
0:54:32 > 0:54:35which solemnly renounced the supremacy of
0:54:35 > 0:54:41Parliament in legislation in control of finance and which subordinated
0:54:41 > 0:54:44the courts of this country to the courts of the European Community.
0:54:44 > 0:54:50But we were imbued with the idea that we were building something big,
0:54:50 > 0:54:53something important for the future of Europe
0:54:53 > 0:54:58and for the future of the world, and inevitably, there are changes which
0:54:58 > 0:55:03come then and that was something, a price which we had to pay.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07It was a coup d'etat by a political class who didn't believe
0:55:07 > 0:55:10in popular sovereignty, that's what it was, it was a coup d'etat.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12The power was seized by parliamentarians,
0:55:12 > 0:55:14they seized power that didn't belong to them
0:55:14 > 0:55:19and they used it to take away the rights from those they represented. That's how I saw it.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22Ted was right when they said you can only do a thing like this with
0:55:22 > 0:55:26the full-hearted consent of the people, but he knew he hadn't got it.
0:55:27 > 0:55:33And this is coming home to roost upon his successors.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36After the long years of haggling and all the politicking,
0:55:36 > 0:55:40all we had to do was hand over our signed membership documents.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43'But even here the ceremony was in a low-key.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46'The letters were accepted by one of the departmental directors general
0:55:46 > 0:55:48on the 15th floor landing.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53In little more than a year, Britain would be questioning
0:55:53 > 0:55:56its European membership and as we'll hear in next week's programme,
0:55:56 > 0:56:00planning a referendum very like the one we're having now.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04- Happy New Year.- Happy New Year.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09There was no plan then to give the people their say,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12instead the Queen was escorted by her prime minister
0:56:12 > 0:56:15to his Fanfare For Europe.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19A grand celebration at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24Europe was now officially us.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28Let us pause to consider the English,
0:56:28 > 0:56:32because every Englishman is convinced of one thing, this -
0:56:32 > 0:56:35that to be an Englishman is to belong to the most exclusive club
0:56:35 > 0:56:37there is.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41A club to which benighted bounders of Frenchmen and Germans
0:56:41 > 0:56:45and Italians et cetera, cannot even aspire to belong,
0:56:45 > 0:56:47because they don't even speak English.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49LAUGHTER
0:56:52 > 0:56:56Behind the scenes, the European dream had already moved on.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59Europe's founders were now contemplating the next step
0:56:59 > 0:57:03in ever closer union - economic and monetary union.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05In other words, a single currency.
0:57:07 > 0:57:11Even before he celebrated with the Queen, Heath knew things
0:57:11 > 0:57:13were about to change.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18I was across at Number Ten when the message came in
0:57:18 > 0:57:22from Pompidou setting the agenda for the meeting
0:57:22 > 0:57:28and the centrepoint of it was a move towards economic and monetary union,
0:57:28 > 0:57:32which Pompidou suggested we should aim at for 1980
0:57:32 > 0:57:35and we saw this.
0:57:35 > 0:57:39Heath then came in and read the message and made no comment.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42And then Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the Foreign Secretary,
0:57:42 > 0:57:44also came in - read it -
0:57:44 > 0:57:47and he looked across at Ted Heath and said,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50"I don't think the House will like this very much, Ted."
0:57:50 > 0:57:52Is that what Alec Home said?
0:57:52 > 0:57:55To which Heath said, "But that, Alec, is what it's all about."
0:57:55 > 0:57:58Hm.
0:57:58 > 0:58:00Well, that's what it WAS about...
0:58:01 > 0:58:04..and we'd have got it.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07# We've got to get in to get on
0:58:07 > 0:58:12# You must move ahead or we fall behind
0:58:12 > 0:58:15# Nothing in life stays the same
0:58:15 > 0:58:21# We got to get in to get on. #