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Informationen zum Autor Helen Parr is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Keele, UK. She is the author of Our Boys: The Story of a Paratrooper (2018) which won the Templer Medal Book Prize, the Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History, the Longman-History Today Book Prize and was Longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. Klappentext Harold Wilson's apparent volt-face on European Community membership in the autumn of 1966 has long puzzled both commentators and Wilson's colleagues. Based on recently released evidence from the National Archives along with interview and private papers, this book provides a new interpretation of Wilson's policy. After coming to power in 1964, the Labour government had no intention of approaching the EEC on the kind of terms that would likely be available. Wilson aimed to establish 'wider European unity' with economic links between the EEC and EFTA and technological collaboration between Britain and Community countries. Parr demonstrates that January 1966 was a turning point, as the Prime Minister ordered secret studies of the implications of membership, aware that Britain would lose influence in Europe and America without evidence of Britain's interest in the EEC. Yet de Gaulle's attitude and the weakness of sterling meant an initiative for membership was far from assured. Zusammenfassung Examining an important event in Anglo-European relations, this is essential reading for students of post-war British history, and for those interested in Britain's historical relationship with Europe. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction 1. Harold Wilson, Britain's World Role and the European Community, October 1964-January 1965 2. Bridge-Building and the Empty Chair: British Policy towards the European Community, February 1965-February 1966 3. The Politics of Decision, March - October 1966 4. Free-Wheeling with the General: The Formation and Conduct of the Probe of the Six, November 1966 - March 1967 5. Finding a Role? Cabinet's Acceptance of the European Application, March - April 1967 6. The Long Haul to Membership? May - December 1967. Conclusions. Bibliography ...
