Franco-British Relations during the Wilson Years, 1964–70

Abstract

From the outset, relations with France were viewed as central to the foreign policy of the Labour governments of Harold Wilson, who came to office in October 1964 after thirteen years of Conservative government.1 Instructions to British delegates at the December 1964 NATO Council, the first major multilateral meeting after the election, warned officials to ‘avoid confrontations with France’.2 Shortly afterwards Nicholas Henderson, the private secretary to the foreign secretary, argued that the behaviour of President de Gaulle was more significant than the Vietnam situation or the activities of the Soviet Union, because he impacted on so many areas such as relations with the European Economic Community (EEC), the cohesion of NATO and the pursuit of détente.3 The following years saw not only the dramatic withdrawal of France from NATO, de Gaulle’s spearheading of détente and his veto of a second attempt to open talks on EEC enlargement, but also his resignation as president, a growing British focus on European concerns and the eventual agreement to discuss the country’s entry to the EEC. The Wilson years have been unjustly neglected in the history of the Entente Cordiale. They witnessed some deep divisions between Britain and France, but they were important for seeing a drawing together of the two in terms of outlook on world affairs, paving the way for the close relationship enjoyed by de Gaulle’s successor, Georges Pompidou, and Wilson’s successor, Edward Heath.KeywordsForeign PolicyEuropean Economic CommunityLabour GovernmentWorld AffairBritish PolicyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.