Book dossier

This blessed plot

by Hugo Young

The spectre of Europe has haunted British politics since the end of the Second World War and Britain's troubled relationship with the European Union is the most fiery political question of our time. As the single currency approaches, we once again find ourselves tormented -- and our political parties divided -- by the issue that has loomed unanswered for more than fifty years: is Britain a European country? In This Blessed Plot Hugo Young has written an insider's history of Britain and the European Community, bringing to his account a wealth of new material and the insight gained from a mass of interviews with the principal participants. He tells the baleful story with pervasive authority and a lot of wit. Each phase of the history is built around the role and record of a single leading player in the drama, starting with Churchill, the false prophet of what Europe would become, and concluding with Tony Blair, the first unambiguously pro-Europe prime minister to be elected since Britain joined the Common Market in 1973. Around the careers and characters of Ernest Bevin, Harold Macmillan, Edward Heath, Roy Jenkins, Margaret Thatcher and William Cash amongst others, Hugo Young has created a comprehensive and compelling narrative of this crucial period in the history of a nation. It is the biggest story in post-war politics. Its subtext is the nature of what it means to be British and its conclusion a mordant reckoning of political leadership. In This Blessed Plot Hugo Young, on of our leading political commentators, makes intelligible for the first time the great question of the moment -- since Britain chose Europe as her destiny, how and why has she consistently refused to face it? -- Inside jacket flap.