Sir Humphrey: “Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last 500 years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now when it’s worked so well?”
Jim Hacker: “That’s all ancient history, surely.”
Sir Humphrey: “Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing [the EEC] up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn’t work. Now that we’re inside we can make a complete pig’s breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased, it’s just like old times.”
– Yes, Minister, British comedy series
Absolutely smashingly brilliant; one can only wish it absolutely comes true straight through to the complete disintegration of that horrible mish-mash!
That show was the bomb.
So now we know at last why Tony Blair supports Bush.
If only this were actually true.
If only Churchill or Thatcher were still PM today to actually say it on the record.
Were the writers shot for revealing state secrets?
Of course it’s true. So far Britain has undermined the euro, sunk Nato and forced the French to make fools of themselves by taking the OPPOSITE policy on Iraq, as they do, along with the Germans, which isolates them and sets them up for a fall. United Europe, eh?
I love it. I’d love it more if it were true.
Rule Britannia!
Nothing has changed in 500 years. W/Fogs still begin at Calais. To rule Europe you still need to enslave the off shore islands. The only difference between Caesar and Schroeder is that now there are two islands the Continental Tyrant must control: Britain and America. (Pity the poor Canadians forced to police Europe alongside their southern brothers.)