"Broker or brakeman?": An analysis of parliamentary debates on schuman plan between British labour and conservative parties

Abstract

9 May 1950 was a milestone in the history of European Integration when the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed the pooling of French and West German supplies of coal and steel; and made an invitation to other European states willing to be involved in this plan. The invitation for the conference on Schuman Plan came to the agenda of British Parliament on 26 June as a motion by Conservative Party demanding Labour Party Government to accept the invitation which had already been declined at the end of May, 1950. Following the debate on 26-27 June, The Economist published an article titled "Broker or Brakeman?" in which the Schuman Plan discussions on British Parliament were explored. The Journal was arguing that "it is the resemblances, not the differences, between the outlook of Government and Opposition that are most striking" on this issue of foreign policy. Although this argument makes sense to a certain extent; this study argues that it was the adversarial nature of British party politics that shaped the general structure of the above mentioned parliamentary debate. Moreover, this nature contributed the decision makers to apply exceptionalist discourses and policies when it came to European Integration, therefore to a British non-involvement in the Plan.