Don't know anyone in my family that even voted to get into the EU..
A growing number of British newspapers are now questioning the value of the European Union. Slowly, but steadily, it is becoming fashionable to question the value of the EU, the European Parliament and the Commissioners. The rejection of the new EU constitution by European voters seems to have given fresh courage to commentators. Very few of these commentators bother to point out that it was the British media which helped trick the electorate into supporting Britain's entry into the Common Market. And once we had been taken in, it was the press which encouraged that Britons voted `Yes' to stay in the Common Market.
By 1971, it was obvious that most British newspapers were wildly committed to Britain becoming a member of the EEC. Only the Express titles were not clamouring for membership.
The
Financial Times and the
Daily Mirror had both been strong advocates of membership from the early 1960s, but politicians took to the idea a little later.
The first Prime Minister to try to lead Britain into the EEC was Harold Wilson who, from 1966, was convinced that Britain could not survive outside the EEC. His Government's application to join, in May 1967 was vetoed by General de Gaulle, the French president, whose life and career had been saved by the British during the Second World War but whose loyalties were first to himself, second to France and not at all to Britain. Actually, French President Charles de Gaulle rejected Britain's application to join the Common Market twice. In public he argued that Britain, a traditional island nation, was not suited to be part of a European superstate. That was just political flim-flam. In reality he rejected Britain (despite everything that Britain had done for him and France during the Second World War) because he wanted to delay Britain's entry until the Common Agricultural Policy (designed to give huge subsidies to French peasant farmers) had been properly set up. Once the CAP was in place the loathsome de Gaulle suddenly decided that Britain's island history no longer mattered, and he became enthusiastic about Britain joining the Common Market. Naturally, he really wanted Britain to join the Market in order to help pay for the costs of running the CAP and keeping French farmers satisfied. There are a lot of French farmers, and they have always been a powerful voting block. Right from the start of the EU Britain has been used by both America and France. And it is still happening.
Three years later, when the foul and repulsive Ted Heath got into Number 10 Downing Street he began negotiations again, and a treaty was agreed in January 1972. This was the infamous treaty in which the treasonous Heath lied to everyone and betrayed his country.
In the months prior to Heath's betrayal the British public had not been convinced that they wanted their country to enter the EEC. Many, perhaps, simply didn't trust the politicians' claims that membership would be merely a commercial convenience. One opinion poll in early 1971 showed that the British people were against entry by the astonishing ratio of three to one. This opposition came despite the expenditure by the European Commission Information Service of around £10 million on trying to persuade opinion formers of the benefits of membership of the EEC.
With it looking as though joining the EEC might be political suicide the Government became desperate. Heath's Government paid for the distribution of propaganda extolling the virtues of membership, and produced a White Paper which was full of unsubstantiated claims for the EEC and which deliberately omitted any mention of the costs of membership or the fact that joining the EEC was the first step towards a federal states of Europe.
Heath only got away with his Great Betrayal because the press had decided that entry was a `good thing' (for them and their proprietors), and so did not question any of the claims made by Heath's Government.
Editors and columnists slavishly obeyed the dictates of their proprietors. If the press had done its job properly (and had investigated and analysed the purpose and value of the Common Market) Britain would have almost certainly never joined the EEC and would now be a considerably wealthier and more powerful nation.
The Financial Times, the
Times, the
Guardian, the
Daily Telegraph, the
Sunday Times, the Observer, the Daily Mail, the Sun and The Economist were all wildly enthusiastic about Britain joining the EEC. (As, indeed, most of them still are.) Throughout the run up to the day of our joining, the daily news in Britain was delivered with a preposterous pro-EEC slant designed to suppress the truth and to convince the public that without membership of the EEC neither they nor their country had much of a future. Only occasionally did the papers admit that the politicians were spinning like tops. The
Times remarked that Geoffrey Rippon, the Cabinet Minister responsible for negotiating Britain's entry, was behaving `almost as though he has something to hide'. (He certainly did.) The
Daily Mirror (which, at the time, had by far the largest sale in Britain) was unrelenting in describing the prizes of membership as immense and warning readers that if they voted against membership of the EEC they would become `mere lookers-on from an off-shore island of dwindling insignificance'.'
When Prince Philip took his foot out of his mouth long enough to claim that the EEC's Common Agricultural Policy was an example of bad management, the
Daily Mirror called him a `chump'. (So, now who's the chump?)
The pro-EEC line appeared on news and feature pages and was supplemented with huge numbers of full page advertisements paid for by the European Movement.
Heath took Britain into the EEC with the help of the nation's press and without ever giving the electors a chance to say whether or not their country should become part of the European `project'.
Only the
Daily Express `stood alone - with the people' against membership of the EEC. They praised Philip's scepticism about the Common Agricultural Policy announcing that `The People applaud his good sense...and wish it were more widely shared by our rulers.' But once the vote for membership had been won even the
Daily Express capitulated and accepted the verdict.
http://www.vernoncoleman.com/howthebritishmedia.htm
I'm out!!
