The Fall of the Policy for Membership in The Referendum Period (1997–2016)

This chapter analyses the policy for membership in a ‘Referendum Period (1997–2016)’ beginning with the installation of William Hague as Conservative Party leader, his demise in 2001 following the loss of the general election to his rehabilitation as Shadow then Foreign Secretary under David Cameron. The chapter also considers Cameron’s agency, his entry into coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, his unanticipated offer, conditional on an outright Conservative victory at the 2015 general election, which he won, of an in-out referendum on European membership, which he lost, as the ‘right thing for Britain’. The chapter concludes with the agency of Jeremy Corbyn, his equally unexpected ascension to the leadership of the Labour Party in 2015 and the loss of the 2016 referendum.