FULL CIRCLE - From Appeasement to Brexit

One issue almost more than any other has dominatedBritain’s political and emotional landscape during the 21st century— our relationship with Europe and the European Union in particular. However, for the Conservative party the roots of thisissue go back much further. As Clive Watson so eloquently demonstrates in FullCircle the precedence of history can, in fact should, teach us manylessons. Whilst, over eighty years apart, the political issues ofappeasement to Hitler in the 1930s and those of Brexit may seem very differenttheir DNA are in fact very similar. Across the pages of Full Circle, from the 1930s onward, stridethe giants of the Conservative party’s conflicting European opinions –Chamberlain, Churchill, Macmillan, Heath, Thatcher, Cameron, May, Johnson andothers… all trying to drive, charm or cajole their party to a destiny thatwasn’t necessarily to everyone’s liking. What this book seeks to do is to link the courageous standsof the anti-appeasement and anti-Brexit Conservative MPs. The links are strong,and they highlight the tragedy that has bedevilled the Conservative partyAs Sir Anthony Seldon writes in his foreword “In thestruggles to prevent the failings of both appeasement and Brexit a fewConservative MPs risked their careers and parliamentary seats to stand up andchallenge the prevailing orthodoxy of the Conservative leadership.” Full Circle isthe history of those principled MPs... or is even, perhaps, their epitaph.