Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2008
When the United Kingdom joined the European Community on 1 January 1973 it became entitled to send thirty-six representatives to the European Parliament. For the first six years of Britain's membership – from January 1973 to June 1979 – these members were nominated from the two Houses of Parliament and hence held a dual mandate. From January 1973 to June 1975 only twenty-one British members, Conservative, Liberal, Ulster Unionist and a cross-bench peer, attended the Parliament; Labour members attended from the first session after the referendum on British membership of the European Community in June 1975.
1 The abbreviation ‘MEP’ for Member of the European Parliament only came into frequent use after the direct elections held in 1979. It is used for convenience in this article to describe the nominated members as well.
2 ‘Treaty establishing the European Community’, in Treaties Establishing the European Communities, Art. 137 (Luxembourg: EC Official Publications Office, 1987).Google Scholar
3 Ibid., Art. 138.
4 Judgement of the European Court of Justice, Case 138/79.
5 A full breakdown of the membership of the political groups is given in Forging Ahead: the European Parliament 1952–1988, 3rd edn, Directorate General for Research, European Parliament, (Luxembourg: 1989), 126.Google Scholar
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7 Proceedings, Conservative Party Conference, 12 Oct. 1972 (London: Conservative Central Office, 1972).Google Scholar
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9 Ibid., 14 Dec. 1972.
10 The full Conservative list was, from the House of Lords: the Earl of Bessborough, the Earl of Mansfield, Lord Brecon, Baroness Elles, Lord Reay and Lord St Oswald; from the House of Commons, the names were: Sir Tufton Beamish (Lewes), J. Brewis (Galloway), Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker (Cheltenham), James Hill (Southampton, Test), John Hill (Norfolk, South), Peter Kirk (Saffron Walden), Tom Normanton (Cheadle), Sir John Peel (Leicester South East), Rafton Pounder (Ulster Unionist Belfast South), Sir Brandon Rhys Williams (Kensington South), James Scott-Hopkins (Derbyshire West), Sir Derek Walker-Smith (Hertfordshire East).
11 Hayward, Ron, the Labour Party General Secretary, reminded the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) of this at their meeting in Nov. 1972, The Times, 9 Nov. 1972.Google Scholar
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14 Ibid., 30 Dec. 1972.
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21 European Parliament Debates, 16 Jan. 1973, Official Journal of the European Community (thereafter OJ), Annex 157, 14.Google Scholar
22 The Times, 11 Jan. 1973.Google Scholar
23 Ibid., 18 Jan. 1973.
24 E. P. Deb., 13 Feb. 1973, OJ, Annex 158, 41–4.Google Scholar
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31 Ibid., 25 June 1975. The members nominated were, from the House of Lords: Lords Ardwick, Castle, Bruce, Gordon-Walker, Walston and Baroness Fisher. From the House of Commons the nominees were: Guy Barnett (Greenwich), Betty Boothroyd (West Bromwich, West), Tam Dalyell (West Lothian), Sir Geoffrey de Freitas (Kettering), Gwyneth Dunwoody (Crewe), Tom Ellis (Wrexham), John Evans (Newton-le-Willows), William Hamilton (Fife, Central) Mark Hughes (Durham), Richard Mitchell (Southampton, Itchen), John Prescott (Kingston-upon-Hull) and Michael Stewart (Hammersmith, Fulham).
32 Ibid.
33 The Times, 4 July 1975.Google Scholar
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36 Ibid.
37 The Times, 1 July 1975.Google Scholar
38 According to Mrs Ewing, the President of the Parliament contacted the Speaker of the Commons to request that the two Scottish members should be recalled if their persecution of her did not cease. She had no more trouble. Memorandum for the author by Mrs Ewing, Oct. 1992, author's archive, London.
39 Bertrand, A., ‘Report on European Union’, E. P. document, PE 40.930/final of 20 June 1975, European Parliament Archive, Library of the Parliament, Luxembourg and Brussels.Google Scholar
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44 Ibid., 113.
45 Parliamentary Labour Party Delegation to the European Parliament, Report 1975–77 (London, 1977), Socialist Group Archive, European Parliament, Brussels, 3.
46 E. P. Deb., 11 May 1976, OJ Annex 203, 17–32. Borschette had a heart attack that night and never resumed his duties as a Commissioner. Prescott's forceful attack on the Commission made a great impression on the normally quiescent parliamentary scene at the time, and Borschette's heart attack was blamed by some on Prescott. But the debate reads very mildly now.Google Scholar
47 Ibid., 15 June 1976, OJ, Annex 204, 18–43.
48 Ibid., 26.
49 Ibid., 25.
50 Ibid., 106. Voting was by roll-call of members, since at this time members had no electronic voting machines and there was no other way of recording votes. Voting was normally by show of hands.
51 Author's interview with Lady Kirk, Oct. 1992, Jackson Archive.
52 928 H. C. Deb. 5s, col. 1663.
53 T. J. Bainbridge, Memorandum on the Conservative Group leadership, 28 Jan. 1982, CGA. The Conservative leadership made two abortive attempts, on behalf of Eldon Griffiths MP and Paul Channon MP, to get its nominated leader into a safe seat in 1979. When these attempts failed, James Scott-Hopkins was then nominated as the prospective leader. Geoffrey Rippon showed no interest in standing in direct elections when it became clear that he would have to submit himself to the selection committee process in the new European constituencies.
54 Deb, E. P.., 15 June 1977, OJ, Annex 218, 126.Google Scholar
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56 ‘Interim report on the problem of direct elections to the European Parliament’, Oct. 1974, CGA, 3.
57 ‘Direct Elections to the European Parliament’, Conservative Party press release, 24 Nov. 1976, CGA.
58 Conservative Research Department, Campaign Guide for Europe 1979 (London, 1979), 2, referring to an article by Crosland in Socialist Commentary.
59 E. P. Deb., 15 June 1977, OJ Annex 218, 127.
60 Ibid., 129.
61 Ibid., 6 July 1977, OJ, Annex 219, 174.
62 Ibid., 16 Nov. 1978, OJ, Annex 236, 221.
63 Ibid., 237–8.
64Shaw, Michael, The European Parliament and the Community Budget (London: European Conservative Group, 1978).Google Scholar
65 E. P. Deb., 12 Dec. 1978, OJ, Annex 237, 51.