The domestic influences on British European policy, 1964-1967

There can be little dispute that the second application for British membership of the European Community in May 1967 was a major foreign policy initiative. This has been explained as a result of collapsing alternatives for Britain, in a period of economic and political decline. But whilst the application represented a new strand in the Labour Government's foreign policy, this thesis posits that the motivations for seeking membership were diverse, and certainly not restricted to the traditional prompts for foreign policy. European policy is not simply shaped by factors in the European and international context; but rather, national governments, at the interface between international and domestic pressures, are subject to a broader range of influences which impact on policy development. Specific national and domestic conditions affect both assessments of national interests, and also the most appropriate means to their fulfilment. This thesis has three concerns: firstly, to examine the evolution of European policy between 1964-67, taking account of domestic and external factors that shaped assessments of British interests; secondly, the management of European policy within the Labour Party; and thirdly, the presentation of policy to the Labour Party and public. This research adds to the existing literature by foregrounding the domestic sphere in the development and management of European policy, and concludes that the Labour Government's application for British membership of the European Community was an imperfect solution to the fulfilment of Britain's national and domestic objectives. Although the application failed in its primary aim of securing British membership, it can still be viewed as successful in achieving a number of alternative domestic and national functions.