Dear Sir,
It always surprises me that our historians and politicians see Churchill’s 1946 speech on a European Federation out of its historic context (Robert Coulson’s letter headed ‘Churchill on Europe,’ en November 2016) and therefore are unaware of the implied limitations. John W. Wheeler-Bennett had access to the Royal Archives when he wrote King George VI - His life and reign (MacMillan 1958) and discloses three relevant facts.
Firstly, as early as 1940 the King was giving thought to post-war reconstructions and at the King’s command ‘Sir Alexander Hardinge sent to the Foreign Office a memorandum envisaging a joint declaration [by Britain and America] of a voluntary federation of European states after the war, and promising their financial and economic support to such an organisation.’ (p. 508; Royal Archive: G.VI. Conf./244, Sir A. Hardinge to Lord Halifax, August 5, 1940.) This was vetoed by the Foreign Office as inappropriate while America was not in the war.
Secondly, even for small dependencies, the King saw himself as ‘guardian of the Sovereignty of the people’ (p. 515) and being jealous for the sovereignty of his people, and took extraordinary measures to ensure the American’s did not think we were relinquishing sovereignty over any part of the Empire when allowing American bases. This implies that his vision of a post-war European Federation was distinct from Britain and the Empire.
Thirdly, the ‘King’s initiative was not entirely barren of results. A Ministerial Committee was set up to consider the possibility of creating some post-war European system on the basis of the federation. But the Committee had a second purpose, one which was always close to King George’s heart. It was a scheme of social reform for the United Kingdom, ... [from which] there ultimately emerged the Beveridge Plans for social insurance and for full employment in a free society’ (p. 509).
The continuance of this idea as one of the objects of a Ministerial Committee implied a government consensus sympathetic to the idea, so Churchill was not simply uttering his personal views in 1946 but those of his King and other leading politicians. However, Churchill also knew that while the King had envisaged the continuance of the Empire, the price for American post-war loans and help was that we dissolve the Empire so that it became open to American businesses.
Yours sincerely,
