This book tells for the first time the inside story of the most audacious political project of modern times: the plan to unite Europe under a single 'supranational' government. From the 1920s, when the blueprint for the European Union was first conceived by a British civil servant, this meticulously ducumented account takes the story right up to the new European constitution, already planned 60 years ago to be the 'crowning dream' of the whole project.
The book chillingly shows how Britain's politicians, not least Tony blair, have consistently been outplayed in a game-the rules of which they never understood. But it ends by asking whether, from the euro to enlargement, the 'project' has now overreached itself, as a gamble doomed to fail.
1. The Birth of an Idea: 1918-1932
2. The Nazi Cul-de-Sac: 1933-1945
3. Two Tries that Failed: 1945-1949
4. 'An Almost Mystical Conception': 1950-1951
5. The Rocky Road to Rome: 1950-1957
6. 'A Triumph for Monnet': 1958-1961
7. Why de Gaulle Kept Britain Out: 1961-1969
8. The Real Deceit of Edward Heath: 1970-1975
9. Britain Stays In: 1973-1975
10. 'The Awkward Partner': 1975-1984
,etc.