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The Approach of British Political Parties to a Defence Role for the European Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Dan Keohane
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Extract

THE ISSUES OF DEFENCE AND EUROPE DID NOT PLAY A prominent part in the UK general election campaign of March-April 1992. One of the reasons was that public opinion polls throughout the campaign indicated consistently that domestic issues came first with the electorate. Secondly, with the disappearance of the Soviet threat and the restoration of consensus between the parties on nuclear weapons, defence was not a sufficiently contentious subject for it to be a central topic in the campaign. It was no surprise, however, that the Conservative Manifesto claimed that defence would not be safe in the hands of the opposition parties and that their policies would result in huge job losses in the defence sector.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , 01 July 1992 , pp. 299 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1992

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References

1 Hurd, Douglas, ‘Europe’s Defence and Security in the 1990s', speech in Berlin, 12 1990, quoted in Arms Control and Disarmament Quarterly Review, No. 19, 01 1991, London, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, i.e. FCO, 1991, pp. 18–26, p. 122.Google Scholar

2 Hurd, D., ‘The WEU: The European Pillar within NATO’, in Arms Control and Disarmament Quarterly Review, No. 22, 06 1991, FCO, 199t, pp. 13–21, p. 20.Google Scholar

3 Kinnock, Neil, ‘International Security in a Changing World: The Labour Party Perspective’, The RUSI Journal, Vol. 136, No. 2, Summer 1991, pp. 1–5, p. 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Reshaping Europe, Liberal Democrat Policies for East‐West Relations, Federal White Paper No. 3, Dorset, Liberal Democrat Publications, 1990, p. 20.

5 N. Kinnock, op. cit.

6 op. cit., p. 24.

7 D. Hurd, ‘The WEU: The Pillar within NATO’, op. cit.

8 ‘Bush warning to Europe’, The Independent, 8 November 1991.

9 See A Vision for a New Europe, text of Mr Tart's address on 21 February 1991, London, US Information Service, 1991.

10 See ‘Kinnock supports “guiding hand” of defence alliance’, The Independent, 5 December 1991.

11 House of Commons, Hansard, 22 February 1990, Col. 1094.

12 Woerner, Manfred, NATO Secretary General, ‘The Atlantic Alliance in the new era’, NATO Review, Vol. 39, No. 1, 02 1991, p. 6.Google Scholar

13 N. Kinnock, op. cit., p. 4. For an analysis of how NATO's new strategy attaches greater import to politics see Legge, M., ‘The making of NATO’s new strategy', NATO Review, Vol. 39, No. 6, 12 1991, pp. 9–13.Google Scholar

14 ibid., p. 5.

15 Reshaping Europe, op. cit., p. 7.

16 ibid., p. 11.

17 ibid.

18 ibid., p. 11. See also Citizens Europe; Federal Green Paper No. 20, Dorset, Liberal Democrat Publications, 1991. pp. 26–27.

19 D. Hurd, ‘The WEU: The European Pillar within NATO’, op. cit., pp. 14–15.

20 See Mr Norman Tebbit MP, quoted in House of Commons, Hansard, 21 November 1991, Col.482.

21 D. Hurd, ‘Europe’s Defence and Security in the 1990s'. op. cit., p. 26.

22 See Final Report of Labour's Policy Review for the 1990's London. Labour Party. 1989, pp. 79–80 and Looking to the Future, London, Labour Party, 1990. p. 45.

23 N. Kinnock, op. cit.

24 G. Kaufman, Labour's foreign affairs spokesperson, in House of Commons, Hansard, 21 December 1991, Col.451.

25 Policy Document on European Political Union Agreed by National Executiue Committee of the Labour Parties, 27 November 1991, London, Labour Party, 1991, pp. 7–8.

26 Gates, Mike, After the Cold War: Building on the Alliances, Fabian Tract No. 540, London, Fabian Society, 1990, p. 15.Google Scholar (Gates was then Senior International Officer of the Labour Party, but writing in a personal capacity.)

27 N. Kinnock, op. cit., p. 3.

28 Treaty on Political Union, Final draft by the Dutch Presidency as modified by the Dutch Presidency, Annex V, Declaration by member states of the Western European Union, Europe, Documents, 13 December 1991.

29 See MacDonald, C. ‘A New Model Army’, Fabian Review, Vol.103, No. 4, Nov. 1991 Google Scholar, and Radice MP, G. and Sedgemore MP, B., both in Hansard, House of Commons, 21 11 1991 Google Scholar, Cols.478–480 and Cols.500–502 respectively.