Nott and EEC
Sir: It is not surprising that Mr Heath, a veteran politician and pro-Marketeer, should blame Britain's difficulties with the other EEC countries on its poor economic performance under the present Labour government. He conveniently overlooks one of the more persistent arguments used to con the British people into accepting membership of the European Club: that the discipline imposed by the Market would transform the British economy, making it at once competitive and efficient.
Changing one's mind in the light of events appears to be easier for other politicians. I was fascinated to hear (14 March) a Con servative MP, Mr John Nott, replying to the interviewer's remark that Mr Enoch Powell had in fact predicted the very things about which he, Mr Nott, was now complaining; in general, that the EEC arrangements tended to work against Britain's economic interests. Mr Mott instantly dissociated himself from Mr Powell's views. He asserted that the malfunctioning of the EEC was all the more reason for Britain's staying in and working to realise the ideals of the Founding Fathers.
I detect a tinge of incipient fanaticism here. At all events, it is reminiscent of the fanatic socialist who, after grudgingly acknowledging that every known socialist regime in the world is abhorrent in a number of ways, goes on to explain that not one of them is socialist 'in the true sense of the word.' He then concludes that it is more necessary than ever that all honest men should struggle to bring about 'true socialism.'
E. J. Mishan
City University,
St. John Street, London EC1
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