A Question of Leadership: July 1966 and Harold Wilson's European Decision

Parr, Helen

doi:10.1080/13619460500254364

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…With it becoming increasingly clear that his preference of deepening Commonwealth connections was not viable, in January 1966 he began to commission secret studies on membership though these, along with advice from the government's economic advisers and the Treasury, advised against it in the near future. The sterling crisis of July 1966 made the pursuit of membership more urgent as a way to address the country's economic woes and international standing, precipitating Wilson's announcement in autumn 1966 to embark on a probe of membership, a tour of Europe in January 1967 to achieve this aim and the decision in May 1967 to formally apply (Cook and Francis, 1979; Parr, 2005, Chapter 1).…”

Section: Background and Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The Formation of British Attitudes towards the Common Market: 1957–72

Kenny

2022

J of Common Market Studies

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This paper uses an extensive collection of historical surveys that have only recently been made available to researchers to examine the formation of British attitudes towards the then European Economic Community. It demonstrates thatup until 1967the demographic predictors of support for UK membership were unstable. Thereafter, coinciding with the second UK application, these attitudes started to stabilise and harden, with support becoming highest among men, the youngest age cohorts, the middle class and those with greater education. The renewed politicization of the issue in 1967 also coincided with Labour voters becoming significantly more likely to support membership. Following the change in the parties' positions, Labour voters subsequently become substantially less supportive than Conversative voters. The paper thus supports existing analyses on the role of elite cues, while providing new, robust evidence of the change in demographic associations over this formative period.

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Section: Background and Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%