Thatcher wanted to remain in Europe

'Back Boris' mugs and Margaret Thatcher tea towels have sold out at the Conservative's shop at their party's annual conference in Manchester this week.

Many Tory Brexiters revere former Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and have claimed her as their 'patron' who would have supported Brexit.

But Lord Charles Powell, Mrs Thatcher's foreign affairs adviser, said in a recent edition of BBC Newsnight:

"They are quite mistaken."

He added:

"She never, ever once raised the possibility of leaving the European Union. So, they are entirely wrong to claim her as a patron."

What's more, Mrs Thatcher would never have had another referendum on Europe after 1975. Said Lord Powell:

"She thought referendums were the devil's work.

"We should rely on our trusted system of electing our Members of Parliament to reach decisions."

Some Tory Brexiters also claim that in the first referendum in 1975, voters were told that the ‘Common Market’ – as it was then called – was only about free trade.

They should revisit what their hero said at the time.

In the 1975 referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the European Community, Mrs Thatcher strongly advocated staying in. She said:

“It is purely common sense to belong to a community working together in peace on economic and political issues that concern us all."

Her clear statements about the reasons to stay in the European Community went way beyond free trade.

The European Community was - and still is - much more than ‘free trade’. It’s always been about the political and economic direction of our continent.

Mrs Thatcher went on to become Britain’s Prime Minister for 11 years, during which time she helped to create Europe’s ‘Single Market’.

In a keynote speech at the launch of the 1975 referendum campaign, Mrs Thatcher's reasons for staying in the Community equally apply today.

She said then:

IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT I, as Leader of the Conservative Party, should wish to give my wholehearted support to this campaign, for the Conservative Party has been pursuing the European vision almost as long as we have existed as a Party.

It was Disraeli who said:

“...So long as the power and advice of England are felt in the Councils of Europe, peace I believe will be maintained, and maintained for a long period.”

And, of course, that is right. We are inextricably part of Europe...

It is a fact that there has been peace in Europe for the last quarter of a century, and for that alone I am grateful; that my children have not been embroiled in a European conflict as were the children of the previous two generations.

Nor do I think that we should take this peace too much for granted, for it has been secured by the conscious and concerted effort of nations to work together.

We are part of Europe. It was Churchill who, at the Congress of Europe in 1948, said:

“The movement for European unity must be a positive force, deriving its strength from our sense of common spiritual values. It is a dynamic expression of democratic faith, based upon moral conceptions and inspired by a sense of mission …”

And as Harold Macmillan, who made Britain's first application to join the Community, said:

“We are European, geographically and culturally and we cannot, even if we would, disassociate ourselves from Europe”.

That vision of Europe took a leap into reality on the 1st of January 1973 when, due to [Edward Heath’s] endeavours, enthusiasm and dedication, Britain joined the European Community.

Mrs Thatcher summarised:

• The Community gives us peace and security in a free society, a peace and security denied to the past two generations.
• The Community gives us access to secure sources of food supplies. This is vital to us, a country which has to import half of what we need.
• The Community does more trade and gives more aid than any group in the world.

And she concluded:

• It is purely common sense to belong to a community working together in peace on economic and political issues that concern us all.
• It is purely common sense to have access to secure sources of food supplies, when as a nation we have to import half our food.
• It is surely common sense to belong to the Community that is the largest trading and aiding unit in the world, and play our part in that Community.
• It is surely common sense for Britain to continue to play a part in the Council of Europe.
• It is purely common sense that we should now listen also to the Commonwealth - those nations who twice this century, have come to Britain's aid to defend democracy in Europe. Not one of them now want us to leave. The Commonwealth wants us to stay in.

Mrs Thatcher’s speech of all those years ago contains “pure common sense” for the country today.

Have Conservatives forgotten? True Tories are Remainers, not Brexiters.

• Watch 1-minute video of Lord Charles Powell, key adviser to Margaret Thatcher:

• Link to Margaret Thatcher’s full speech made on 16 April 1975 made to the Conservative Group for Europe at St Ermin’s, Westminster: margaretthatcher.org/document/102675
• Report and video production by Jon Danzig (from a clip from BBC Newsnight)
• Please re-Tweet, and follow Reasons2Remain on Twitter:
• Photo: Yes, Margaret Thatcher really did wear that pro-Europe jumper during the 1975 referendum campaign, which featured the nine countries that then made up the European Community (also then called the ‘Common Market’)
• Reasons2Remain is a campaign for a democratic reversal of Brexit. We believe that Brexit will do huge harm to Britain, and that we didn’t have the full facts in 2016.