Abstract
The effect of the general election in February 1950 upon Conservative attitudes was paradoxical: the changing of the political guard in this ‘new Model Parliament’1 altered the balance within the Conservative party on Europe. These younger MPs were more inclined to look favourably on Britain taking the lead in Europe. Some saw a united Europe principally as a defence against the Soviet Union; others appreciated the economic advantages the concept offered — the chance to combine the Empire and sterling area with Europe to create a formidable trading bloc; and there were those Tories, such as Henry Hopkinson2 and Hamilton Kerr, who viewed the moves towards European unity as desirable in their own right.
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© 1997 Sue Onslow
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Onslow, S. (1997). The waiting room of power: 1950–51. In: Backbench Debate within the Conservative Party and its Influence on British Foreign Policy, 1948–57. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230378940_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230378940_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-39729-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-37894-0
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