| Description | | - A major new insider's account of the UK's volatile relationship with Europe over the last 25 years
- Drawing on unprecedented access to many key government files
- Engagingly written with a wealth of behind-the-scene's detail and pithy analysis
- A must-read for anyone interested in British politics and beyond
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For over twenty years Sir Stephen Wall was at the heart of Whitehall, working for a succession of British leaders as they shaped Britain's policy towards the European Union. He was there behind the scenes when Margaret Thatcher took on the rest of Europe to 'get her money back'. He was with John Major at Maastricht where the single European currency was born. He was with Tony Blair as a
negotiator of the EU's Amsterdam, Nice and Constitutional Treaties. As a senior official in London, as Britain's ambassador to the European Union and as Tony Blair's senior official adviser on Europe he saw Prime Ministers and Foreign Secretaries define, defend and promote Britain's interests in Europe. Drawing on that experience, Stephen Wall traces a British journey from 1982 to the present as
successive British governments have wrestled with their relationship with their fellow EU partners, with the European Commission and the European Parliament.
A Stranger in Europe
goes behind the scenes as Margaret Thatcher and her successors have sought to reconcile Britain's national and European interests. Drawing on the official documents of the period, he gives a unique insight into
how Britain's leaders have balanced objective assessment of Britain's wishes; political, press and public pressures; their own political instincts and the aims, interests and personalities of their fellow European leaders. We see Britain's Prime Ministers in intimate discussion with other EU leaders. We experience how Britain's top politicians motivated the best civil servants of their day and
how those civil servants, in turn, sought to turn political instructions into negotiating successes. Above all, we see people at the top of their game trying to promote the British national interest and be good Europeans at the same time.
Stephen Wall analyses both Britain's successes and our failures and shows how, despite the differences of declared aim, and huge differences of personality,
Britain's political leaders have in practice followed very similar paths. He concludes that Britain has been an awkward partner, often at odds with her partners: a stranger in Europe. But with dogged determination and seriousness of purpose Britain's leaders have nonetheless done much to shape and reform the modern Europe in which we live today.
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Readership: Scholars and students of politics, especially those interested in EU studies, international relations, British politics, and political history.
| Contents |
1.
The Start of a Troubled Relationship. "I am not puttable offable": Money, the veto and European Union
2.
The Dynamics of a Deal
3.
European Union or European unity? The Campaign for the Single Market
4.
The Single European Act and Economic & Monetary Union
5.
The Euro and Union: Thatcher, Major and Fin de Regime
6.
At the Heart of Europe: the Road to the Maastricht Treaty
7.
Success Turned Sour: From Maastricht to Mad Cow Disease
8.
"A New Dawn Has Broken Has It Not? " New Labour and the European Union
9.
How the British Government's European Policy is made
10.
A Stranger in Europe
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| Authors, editors,
and contributors |
Stephen Wall, Stephen Wall is Britain's former ambassador to the European Union.
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The specification in this catalogue, including without
limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations,
and month of publication, was as accurate as
possible at the time the catalogue was compiled.
Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we
are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory.
Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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