History often has something to teach us; it’s a matter of opening it at the right page. The up-coming UK referendum about membership of the EU is dividing the country; husband against wife, father against son, step-father against step-daughter.
People’s political allegiances are largely apparent, nowhere more so than in the US, but the EU referendum is dividing the country in a way I’ve never seen before. If you live in Scotland you had a taste of this in 2014. Alastair Campbell, writing in the FT, says that his mission is to convert one Brexiter every day. This is a mistake and a waste of his time. The trenches have been dug and are manned. Nobody will cut the barbed wire and cross no man’s land until the ceasefire on 23rd June. He should seek out undecided voters and try to convert them.
So what might history have to teach us? There is a Conservative Prime Minister whose policy is opposed by a large part of his party. The opposition side with the Prime Minister and the legislation is passed – no referendum in those days. This is 1846 when Prime Minister, Robert Peel, repealed the Corn Laws. In the 1830s, only 2% of corn was imported into Great Britain, by the 1880s imported corn had risen to 65% and prices were much lower. Britain had shifted from depending on agriculture to being a manufacturing nation; re-invented itself, as we say.
With the benefit of hindsight, Robert Peel was a great statesman and proven right in removing tariffs, in the teeth of fierce opposition from his own party. However, it is worth remembering that his party wasted no time taking revenge. In the same year as the repeal of the Corn Laws, 1846, Peel was ousted by his own party and the Conservatives were not re-elected for almost thirty years.
While Cameron’s decision to put Country before Party seems to echo Peel’s repeal of the Corn Laws it doesn’t seem likely, today at least, to lead to a rout of the Conservative party but history may prove again a reliable guide.
The repeal of the Corn Laws made bread cheaper. Here’s some Bread from 1971.