in 1990, the British secretary of state for trade and industry, Nicholas Ridley, a close friend and ally of the prime minister Margaret Thatcher, told the Spectator that the European Monetary System being introduced by the EU was ‘all a German racket designed to take over the whole of Europe… I’m not against giving up sovereignty in principle, but not to this lot. You might as well give it to Adolf Hitler, frankly. … I’m not sure I wouldn’t rather have the shelters and the chance to fight back than simply being taken over by economics.’
