By Adam Harrison

At least one of the two top posts in post-Lisbon Europe looks set to go to a Brit. But what effect will this have on the pro-Europeanism in the UK? Does it still exist? Fashionable words come and go, but unfashionable ones just go. In Britain the word ‘pro-European’ – always a pariah word in the UK press and rightwing circles – shrivelled up and died a death early in this decade, with no-one but the small Liberal Democrat party to nurture it. Pro-European hopes for the new Labour government quickly evaporated, so that few today remember the heady days of The European newspaper (closed 1998), or Britain in Europe group (RIP 2005). The pro-Europeans that remain largely beat a retreat over the last decade, and few now stick their head above the parapet. Those that do, do so under the umbrella of a broader Europhobia: pro-Euro Ken Clarke this weekend was obliged to (in his own inimitably blunt words) “dutifully repeat” the Conservative policy for a referendum on Lisbon, in full simultaneous admission of his own pro-European bent. The government has steered clear of Schengen, stayed out of the Euro and sidestepped a referendum on Lisbon. It even likes occasionally to bash its own baby, the Human Rights Act (Europe can conveniently be blamed for the HRA too). Pro-Europeans within the government, the Miliband brothers among them, have not shouted their faith from the rooftops. Blair was probably pro, but feared the newspapers so averted his gaze when the euro arrived. The very word ‘pro-Europeanism’ is redolent of decades past - the 1990s, the days before internet, Union Jack –clad Ginger Spice, ERM, James Goldsmith, ECU. Maggie with a hanky, attacking a BA plane. Little of this is good. Can the word, the idea, and what they signal be reborn in the 2010s? Indeed, by 2010, - if you believe the hype - it seems like a Brit will become either the new President of the Council, or foreign affairs chief. The French have their men at the ECB, the WTO and the IMF. The Germans are more chary of taking such positions. And anyway, Surely it’s Buggin’s turn? Brits have enjoyed high-profile Commission portfolios for decades now. But this has little resonance back home. Maybe only the title ‘President’ will make them sit up and take notice. The spectre of Thatcher hovers over David Cameron’s right shoulder, a man whose party will derail Lisbon if it can. Tony Blair surely raises hackles in the Benelux, France (and not only here) but could he counterbalance a Eurosceptic UK government? Or could David Miliband as High Representative be the man to trot the globe, build the EU’s presence – and the UK as a leading and determined player within the Union? Blair would surely have the larger impact back home in Blighty. He would also be able to devote himself to broad, encompassing matters like climate change and the Middle East. Success here would point up, well, the very point of the EU – to achieve more as a Union than individual member states could alone. Its value would seep back to Britain, and the president of Europe would be speaking to them in a familiar and reassuring Home Counties accent. It would hit home with or without the support of the newspapers. And a more supportive Britain would be good for the EU, and good for Britain itself as it feels more comfortable in its role as a European player. The government recently lost the support of the The Sun, the largest selling daily newspaper. But the loss has had little effect on opinion polls. The media is influential and violently Europhobic (see Charles Grant’s article for an excellent exposé on this). But perhaps freed from the shackles of fearing what the media says, and with a Brit at the top in Brussels, leftist politicians (and some pro-European Tories) may feel emboldened to come out of the Euro closet, and stay out. Today, Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg threw his hat in the ring, and critiqued Tony Blair’s patchy European record and foreign affairs history. Both of which can easily be criticised. But above and beyond this is the need to build stronger bridges between Britain and ‘Europe’. A new Lisbonified Europe without a visible Brit, and a UK headed by David Cameron, may only set the country on an even more cynical course than without...

Further reading: Charles Grant, ‘Why Is Britain Eurosceptic?’, CER, London, December 2008 The Politics Show, BBC, 26th October 2009, (includes interview with Ken Clarke MP, Shadow Business Secretary)