For thirty years the Labour Party was wracked by conflict over membership of the European Community, swinging back and forth, pro and anti, when in and out of office. It was a conflict that helped keep the party in opposition for eighteen years until it abandoned its socialist basis under New Labour. The author as journalist and European Union official knew many of the major and minor players and brings this experience to bear.

ROGER BROAD graduated in Modern History from The Queen's College, Oxford. As a journalist he wrote for the Birmingham Post, Financial Times and other journals and newspapers. In 1964-73 he worked for the European Commission and in 1973-86 headed the European Parliament's UK office. With R.J. Jarrett he write he wrote Community Europe and with Virginia Preston has recently edited a symposium Moored to the Continent? Britain and European Integration since 1945.