Quote of the day 17th may 2016

“We are bound to further every honest and practical step to which the nations of Europe may make to reduce barriers which divide them and to nourish their common interests and their common welfare.

“We rejoice at every diminution of the internal tariffs and the martial armaments of Europe. We see nothing but good and hope in a richer, freer, more contented European commonality. 

“But we have our own dream and our own task. We are with Europe, but not of it. We are linked, but not comprised. We are interested and associated, but not absorbed.”

This is a quote by Sir Winston Churchill, from a 1930 article in America's Saturday Evening post.

The last sentence of the quote above has sometimes been misrepresented as having been said in Parliament in 1953 and combined with a comment made to General De Gaulle during a wartime argument.

As you can read here Churchill supported European unity and thought that what in the latter part of his lifetime was called the European Economic Community was a good thing.

At different times of his life he had different opinions about whether Britain should take part in it, but in or out, he would certainly not have wanted Britain to be hostile to Europe.

In 1963, just two years before he died, Churchill wrote:

“The future of Europe if Britain were to be excluded is black indeed.”

I do now know how Churchill would vote on June 23rd if he were alive today, and neither do those who are trying to posthumously recruit him to the Brexit cause. I do know that he would not have wanted us to be hostile to or disengage with Europe.