Britain and the EU: Then and Now

The British Fourth Estate has a great tradition of being mercilessly undeferential and at times downright inquisitorial. In other words, it does its job: taking government to task. Because Fleet Street is mostly unabashedly partisan, things there can get pretty harsh. With no governmental interference in the content of the BBC, Auntie Beeb, too, can be stern. This we know from following the recent General Elections.

Also an hono[u]red feature of British political life is satire — a gentle (or sometimes not so gentle) flaying of the Establishment, poking fun at its prominent figures (including the Queen, who has been heard to murmur, "We are amused."). Private Eye magazine. Monty Python, with its upperclass twits, its Ministry of Silly Walks. That Was The Week That Was (fondly dubbed TW³). The ineffable Spitting Image.

And Yes, Minister, a waggish (we'd say snarky) series from 1980 — still early days in what became the long-running Thatcher Show — whose absurdities only underscore its evident truths.

And yes, this post is going somewhere. But you'll have to read down to find out where. You'll enjoy a knowing laugh along the way.

The IMDb describes Yes, Minister thus:

After years in opposition a new party is in power. The new Minister thinks he is the government. Sir Humphrey Appleby, Permanent Secretary, knows that it is he and his civil service colleagues who run the country. An inexperienced and gullible Minister puts forward plans in English, and is frustrated by his chief civil servant, who speaks Red Tape. With help from Bernard Woolley, stuck between his political boss and the master of his career, the Minister gradually learns to master the situation ... or does he?

Here's an exchange among the Minister's political advisor (PolAd), the Minister of Administrative Affairs, whose portfolio is the bureaucratic epicenter (Min), and the Ministry's Permanent Secretary (PermSec). Following on is an excerpt from an Associated Press report, datelined yesterday, on the looming EU summit.

Then — 1980

PolAd (sarcastically): Wonderful ammunition for the anti-Europeans.

Min: Doesn't the Foreign Office realize what damage this will do to the European idea?

PermSec: Well, I'm sure they do. That's why they support it.

Min: Surely the Foreign Office is pro-Europe. Isn't it?

PermSec: Yes...and no. if you'll forgive the expression. The Foreign Office is pro-Europe because it is really anti-Europe. The civil service was united in its desire to make sure that the Common Market didn't work. That's why we went into it.

Min: What are you talking about?

PermSec: Minister. Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last 500 years. To create a dis-united Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Italians and the Germans. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it's worked so well?

Min: Ancient history, surely.

PermSec: Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now that we're on the inside, we can make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing. Set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased. It's just like old times.

Min: Surely we are committed to the European idea.

PermSec: Oh oh oh. Really, Minister.

Min: Then why are we pressing for an increase in the membership?

PermSec: Well, for the same reason. It's just like the United Nations, in fact. The more members it has, the more arguments it can stir up. The more futile and impotent it becomes.

Min: What appalling cynicism.

PermSec: Yes. We call it diplomacy, Minister.

Now — 2005

France refuses cuts in the generous handouts to its farmers; Italy says it will veto a deal that axes aid to its poor south; Germany wants to reduce its contribution to the EU's accounts; Britain is clinging to the $6 billion rebate former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher won a decade ago by telling the continentals: "we want our money back!"

[snip]

EU nations are split over whether to press ahead with the charter's ratification.

France, Poland and Germany have said the other countries should go ahead with their own votes on the constitution, which must be ratified by all EU members in order to take effect. However, the leaders of Denmark and Portugal are considering following British Prime Minister Tony Blair in freezing national referendum plans.