Foreign Policy Flashcards
What were Heaths views on Europe?
- Passionately pro-Europe.
- His maiden speech in the commons was about the Schuman plan - the eec forerunner.
- He saw European cooperation as a way to prevent any repetition of Nazi Germany.
Why was British entry expectantly simpler this time?
- George’s Pompidou had replaced De Gaulle, he was convinced the EEC needed Britain as much as Britain needed it.
- Most of the arrangements had been set out by Heath and his negotiating team in 1962.
What was the conservative opposition to EEC membership?
- From those on the right who believed in British sovereignty and Commonwealth links.
- Enoch Powell was a vociferous critic, voting against the bill for entry at every parliamentary stage.
- In 1974, Powell refused to stand as a conservative and even called his supporters to support labour.
How were labour divided over Europe?
- The right of the party like Roy Jenkins were committed pro-Europeans.
- The left was more hostile.
- Labour officially opposed Heath plans but couldn’t argue against the joining due to the amount of pro-Europeans in the party.
- Jenkins resigned the deputy leadership over the shadow cabinets commitment to a referendum in opposition.
What was Harold Wilson’s stance on Europe?
- Wholly ambivalent but focused on ensuring party unity.
- He argued the terms of the agreement weren’t good enough.
- Tony Benn convinced him the a re-negotiation and a referendum would be the only way to hold the party together and this is what Wilson did.
What was the final vote and date of EEC entry?
- Britain entered in January 1973, with 69 rebel labour MPs helping the conservatives win a decisive Commons vote and 20 abstained.
What was the support for the ‘Yes’ campaign in the 1975 referendum?
- Most of the labour cabinet led by Roy Jenkins, Heath and liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe.
- The campaign was well financed by big business with a survey finding 419 company chairmen out of 423 wanted to stay in.
What was the support for the No campaign?
- Those on the left of labour arguing it would be bad for British workers - Michael Foot and Barbara Castle.
- Those opposed on the basis of Britains loss of independence. This ranged from Tony Benn to Enoch Powell, now a UUP MP, and Ian Paisley.
- This disparate range of opposition proved to antagonise any hopes of a coherent ‘No’ campaign.
What were the results of the EU referendum?
17 million (68.3%) voted ‘Yes’ and 8 million (32.5%) voted ‘No’.
What was Heaths relationship with America?
Less inclined than previous PMs due to his focus on Europe. He rejected attempts by Kissinger to use Britain as a landing pad for links with Europe - insisting the US should negotiate with the European community as a whole.
- However, Heath got on well with Nixon and was less condemning of Vietnam than his predecessor.
What was the effect of the Yom Kippur War?
- Other than being economically detrimental, the war strained relations with the US.
- Heath and other European countries refused permission for US use of NATO bases to airlift supplies to Israel.
What were Wilson and Callaghans relations with the US like?
- Both were keen on the Atlantic alliance. Callaghan forged a good relationship with Kissinger and negotiated the replacement of Polaris missiles with Trident at Guadeloupe in 1979 with President Carter.
- However some tension remained over Britains continual withdrawal East from Suez that had started in the 60s.
What were Britains attitudes to the USSR?
- Followed the detente policy and in the wake of the US.
- However the Markov affair in 1978 displayed underlying tension. Markov, a Bulgarian who had defected to the West in 1969, was killed in 1978 in London by a poisonous pellet presumably fired by the KGB.
What were Britains attitudes to China?
- Followed through with detente, agreeing an exchange of ambassadors in 1972.
- Heath made many visits to China after 1974 and was awarded the ‘Peoples Friendship Envoy’, the highest possible honour given by the Chinese government to a foreigner.
- By 1979, improved relations meant the Premier Hua Guofeng visited Britain on a European tour, the first since the communist revolution.
