Dear Editor,
Further to Bert Weenink’s letter on ‘Lewis and Europe’ (August en), readers might like to know Churchill’s view of Europe in the aftermath of WWII.
In his biography of Churchill, Roy Jenkins, a former President of the European Commission, concluded that the evidence is generally against Churchill’s commitment to full British participation in the formation of a United States of Europe. In Churchill’s speech in Zürich on 19 September 1946, he envisaged a United States of Europe with France and Germany taking the lead together, while Great Britain, the British Commonwealth, the United States and, if possible, Russia, should be friends and sponsors of the new Europe.
During Churchill’s premiership, 1951-1955, his advocacy of European union did not include hands-on British involvement in this undertaking. He favoured a closer relationship with the US and the Commonwealth. (Incidentally, in 1956, Churchill received the Charlemagne Prize for service to Europe).
If he was alive today, I believe he would wish our nation to be free from EU regulations as an independent country, while cooperating with the EU on trade, defence, security etc., and furthering our relationships with non-EU countries around the world, especially the US and the Commonwealth.
Churchill, by the way, had a high regard for Christian ethics. Speaking at London University on 18 November 1948, he said: ‘The light of Christian ethics remains the most precious guide. Their revival and application is a practical need, whether spiritual or secular in nature…’
We should now unite behind our leaders, asking God to revive our faith and to guide us, as a self-governing democracy, to a prosperous and righteous future, for ‘righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people’ (Proverbs 14.34).
Yours in Christ,
