‘It was, until recently,” wrote one commentator in the London Times, himself a disillusioned ex- minister from a former Labor Government, “my firm belief that the most stupefying, boring experience to which any intelligent human being could possibly be exposed was a general election campaign. All those platitudes, those earnest psephologists, the union-bashing, the Tory-baiting, the sustained insult to the intelligence of a captive electorate. I was, it is now clear, quite wrong. The EEC referendum campaign has set new and unassailable standards.”
Few people in Britain, except the passionate advocates on either side— the totally dedicated pro- and anti-Marketeers—would disagree with him. Going into Europe has never been seen by the British people as a great adventure, rather as a great bore; at best, an unfortunate necessity. Inflating the argument with several weeks of hot air made it no more interesting.
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