‘Ve vill Occupy ze Sunbeds Here at Precisely 5 a.m.…!’: National Stereotypes and Britain’s Relationship with Europe

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, the tabloids would never dream of using offensive racist terms to refer to Britons of Afro-Caribbean or Asian origin but they do not hesitate to call German and French people Krauts and Frogs. This chapter investigates the use of negative national stereotypes applied to our European neighbours, initially in the context of summer holidays and international football matches, but then with reference to Britain’s uneasy relationship with the EEC-EC-EU between 1990 and the present day. For decades, the Sun, Mail, Express and Star have been strongly opposed to a federal Europe and monetary union and have been extremely critical (sometimes offensively so) of those countries seen as most responsible for the federalist agenda—France and Germany and their respective populations—but have not attacked newer and less integrated members of the EU in the same way.