Wreckers or builders? A history of Labour MEPs 1979-1999

It is the policy of this blog only to review books with which I have some sort of link. Sometimes I must confess the link seems a little tenuous.

Then along comes my former colleague in the European Parliament, Anita Pollack, with the full monty of a book that even has me as a multiple entry in the index!

This is an interesting project. Anita had a grandstand view of the European Parliament from its election and inception in 1979 as the world's first multi-national legislature through to the increasingly influential body of today. During much of the first ten years Anita worked as an assistant for the charismatic leader of the Labour group of MEPs, Barbara Castle. From 1989 until 1999 she served as an MEP in her own right. Co-incidentally she is the one and only Australian citizen ever to win membership.

At first her title "Wreckers or builders" perplexed me a little. However the detailed pettiness of the bickering among the first tranche of the Labour members elected in 1979 shows how close Labour came to becoming a full blooded anti-European Union party.

Anita picks up a point I made when a candidate in the second European elections in 1984. I drove a round journey of 50 miles at my own expense to speak to a branch meeting. I spent half an hour speaking and nearly an hour being questioned. They then passed a resolution congratulating me on my enthusiasm but decided that they would not be campaigning! Sadly this was typical of how the European Parliament was seen by many Labour party members.

However as the story progresses into the long night of Thatcherism that became the 1980s a different story emerges. Labour MEPs found that they could effect legislation on a whole range of issues having a direct impact on the people they represented.

Sadly the bickering within the group of MEPs continued but the overall approach was becoming more positive.

By the time I arrived in 1994 there had been a sea change in Labour's attitude to the European Union and certainly I felt that I and other new colleagues were elected to do a serious and positive job. However it would have been useful to have read the first three quarters of Anita's book then, as it even now, fifteen years later, it puts many things into perspective.

I was in the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999. It was a turbulent period with very serious controversy about the Labour Party's ideological Clause IV, the BSE crisis and the painful transition to election by proportional representation. I know that Anita and I differed sharply on several issues but I must say that she has dealt with each fairly and this must give the work additional credibility.

One point she picked up on was my work as President of the Parliament's Prayer Breakfast. She seems fascinated that I would often meet Ian Paisley for a conversation, a course of action she acknowledges as risky at that time.

The other Methodist preacher in the Parliament with me, Terry Wynn, gets ample coverage from his impressive work on the EU budget to his defence of Uncle Joe's mint balls.

What is impressive about this book is that it actually gives a good picture of what MEPs, especially Labour MEPs, actually do. It demonstrates the long hours, the frustrations but the pleasure at getting a positive result. It does record the colourful social life available to those that wanted one, but also the sadness as marriages collapsed from the pressure.

This book may not make the big time - though parts of it would make a wonderful documentary film or even a drama - but it will be read by politicians, wannabe politicians, students and researchers for many years to come.

Was I really a "loose cannon"? You'll have to buy it and turn to page 239 to find out!

Wrecker or Builder? A History of Labour MEPs 1979-1999 by Anita Pollack; John Harper Publishing.

Other reviews by Methodist Preacher:
The roots of terrorism by Geoffrey Whitfield
Shades of Grey by Dudley Coates
Where are the Prophets? by Terry Wynn MEP
No time for Romance by Lucilla Andrews