A spectrum, not a schism’
disagreed. The electorate voted 2-1 in favour of our continued membership and the Wilson government somehow limped on, through the Lib-Lab pact of 1977-78 and into 1979. The split in the Labour Party did not heal, however, and the uneasy truce lasted five years, until, in 1981-82 almost 30 MPs deserted the party and set up the SDP. It is that parallel which concerns many Conservatives today.
Those concerns are almost certainly misplaced. Certainly, Labour’s policy to quit the EEC was a major factor in the secession of the SDP, but there were other factors too, notably the party’s adoption of unilateral nuclear disarmament and its proposals for wholesale nationalisation. These were wholly unacceptable to the likes of David Owen and Roy Jenkins. Labour in the late Seventies and early Eighties was riven from top to toe over every aspect of policy.
There is no such fundamental divide within today’s Conservative Party. Certainly the pro-EU element within the party has been in relative decline, but until relatively recently, supporting Brexit was still the love that dared not speak its name. It is a relatively recent phenomenon that senior parliamentarians openly declared their hand as “outers”. This shows how much the party has changed, but it shows also how perceptions of the EU have changed.
Paradoxically, however, for the party, the Brexit vote may prove to be a moment of catharsis that enables a rebuilding process to begin. A binary, yes/no vote inevitably creates the impression of profound division, but the binary line is an arbitrary and artificial construct, drawn down the middle of a full spectrum of opinion. This is a spectrum, not a schism. The division about EU membership may have seemed fundamental and irreparable, but now that debate is over. We can now talk, calmly, civilly and constructively, about the new international relationships that we want to build; and Conservatives of every hue will have an important contribution to make to that vitally important undertaking.