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Between the Waves: The Hidden History of a Very British Revolution 1945-2016
**Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction**
'Powerful, precise, morally engaged, wonderfully alert to character, context and the greater purpose of political life' Rory Stewart, author of Politics on the Edge
'A lucid, thoughtful and richly provocative book' Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times
'Compelling, hugely well-informed . . . will stand for many years as the authoritative political history’ David Kynaston, author of Austerity Britain, 1945-1951
This is the definitive history of Britain’s tumultuous relationship with Europe – as it’s never been told before.
In a story of vaulting ambition and underhand politics, of nation, identity and belief, acclaimed political writer Tom McTague chronicles the battle of ideas, events and personalities that first took the country into the Common Market in 1973, only to take it out of the European Union in an explosive referendum a little over forty years later.
Drawing on unpublished sources and exclusive interviews, McTague unearths the roots of ideological conflict that raged between the leading politicians of the twentieth century as they fought for the future of Europe – Charles de Gaulle, Harold Macmillan, Jean Monnet, Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher.
Alongside these famous figures are the lesser-known actors in Britain’s great post-war a coterie of Eurosceptic student radicals, Cold Warriors, eccentric billionaires and political strategists who turned the tide of history.
A riveting story of the clashing ideals that have pulled at Britain’s public imagination for more than seven decades, Between the Waves raises that most elemental of who are we?
'A sweeping, impressive and ambitious history of modern Europe' Helen Lewis, author of Difficult Women
'Powerful, precise, morally engaged, wonderfully alert to character, context and the greater purpose of political life' Rory Stewart, author of Politics on the Edge
'A lucid, thoughtful and richly provocative book' Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times
'Compelling, hugely well-informed . . . will stand for many years as the authoritative political history’ David Kynaston, author of Austerity Britain, 1945-1951
This is the definitive history of Britain’s tumultuous relationship with Europe – as it’s never been told before.
In a story of vaulting ambition and underhand politics, of nation, identity and belief, acclaimed political writer Tom McTague chronicles the battle of ideas, events and personalities that first took the country into the Common Market in 1973, only to take it out of the European Union in an explosive referendum a little over forty years later.
Drawing on unpublished sources and exclusive interviews, McTague unearths the roots of ideological conflict that raged between the leading politicians of the twentieth century as they fought for the future of Europe – Charles de Gaulle, Harold Macmillan, Jean Monnet, Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher.
Alongside these famous figures are the lesser-known actors in Britain’s great post-war a coterie of Eurosceptic student radicals, Cold Warriors, eccentric billionaires and political strategists who turned the tide of history.
A riveting story of the clashing ideals that have pulled at Britain’s public imagination for more than seven decades, Between the Waves raises that most elemental of who are we?
'A sweeping, impressive and ambitious history of modern Europe' Helen Lewis, author of Difficult Women
548 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 4, 2025
248 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 9, 2025
A compelling, if uneven, political history of Britain's postwar relationship with Europe. McTague follows our intrinsic national Euroscepticism, arguing that no Prime Minister - with the exception of Ted Heath - ever truly embraced European unity. Britain pursued a half-in, half-out stance driven by lingering imperial delusions: an urge to shape Europe while maintaining a unique separation. Decades of 'cakeism' ensued, of membership without obligations which would tie Britain into ever closer political and financial union.
McTague's focus on key personalities is insightful, if sometimes heavy-handed. It's unclear how the 'sceptred isle' conservatism of Roger Scruton or Norman Stone influenced or reflected public opinion, although their indirect effects - through a formative influence on Michael Gove or Dominic Cummings - were perhaps profound.
Inspired, among others, by Rick Perlstein's sweeping histories of insurgent American conservatism, McTague's narrative shines once we reach the 1980s and the rumblings of a targeted, grassroots Eurosceptic movement. But the first half lacks fresh insights (beyond the surprising Algiers contingency) and seems unimaginatively structured around election cycles. A deeper look at left-wing Eurosceptics like Tony Benn and Michael Foot would have added richness, or otherwise I would be minded to start the story proper with the Thatcher–Delors clashes of the latter 1980s.
Despite these flaws, Between the Waves is a reflective account, wistful in places, of Britain wrestling with its past and future self-conception through the prism of its European relations.
McTague's focus on key personalities is insightful, if sometimes heavy-handed. It's unclear how the 'sceptred isle' conservatism of Roger Scruton or Norman Stone influenced or reflected public opinion, although their indirect effects - through a formative influence on Michael Gove or Dominic Cummings - were perhaps profound.
Inspired, among others, by Rick Perlstein's sweeping histories of insurgent American conservatism, McTague's narrative shines once we reach the 1980s and the rumblings of a targeted, grassroots Eurosceptic movement. But the first half lacks fresh insights (beyond the surprising Algiers contingency) and seems unimaginatively structured around election cycles. A deeper look at left-wing Eurosceptics like Tony Benn and Michael Foot would have added richness, or otherwise I would be minded to start the story proper with the Thatcher–Delors clashes of the latter 1980s.
Despite these flaws, Between the Waves is a reflective account, wistful in places, of Britain wrestling with its past and future self-conception through the prism of its European relations.
October 6, 2025
We should pay more attention to the ideas of the right, rather than treating them only as epiphenomena. In that vein I welcome this intellectual-political history of Euroscepticism. I think McTague does a good job of tracing the development of opinion on Europe among conservative elites (and especially in the earlier stages, on the left as well) to show that it was almost always underpinned by an ambivalence about integration and an unwillingness to confront the implications of that ambivalence. Cakeism, you could say. Where he’s weaker is in delving into the roots of changing opinion (whose interests did different stages of euroscepticism serve?). He also sometimes elides elite opinion with ‘the public’ at large in a way that is unconvincing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews