Europeanising the national interest: Tony Blair’s and New Labour’s lost objective

The UK's well documented reluctance concerning a deepening engagement with Europe came under challenge from Tony Blair's New Labour Party once it had assumed governmental office in 1997.From the outset it appeared that a pro-European discourse might be successfully constructed, one that sought to correlate Britain's national interest with the interests of its continental neighbours. More specifically, the discourse created was intended not only to convert much of British public opinion but additionally to help force through an agenda promoting British leadership in the European Union. This article focuses on the origins, the course and subsequent failure of the discourse. In so doing, it provides a critique of Blair's leadership in matters of European policy initiatives and shows how any failure to Europeanise the national interest can be largely attributed to 10 Downing Street.