William Cook

How Brexit will change Germany

In the summer of 1990, the editor of The Spectator, Dominic Lawson, went to interview Nicholas Ridley, Margaret Thatcher’s Secretary of State for Industry, and asked him about the drive towards European Monetary Union. ‘This is all a German racket designed to take over the whole of Europe,’ said Ridley. ‘I’m not against giving up sovereignty in principle, but not to this lot. You might as well give it up to Adolf Hitler, frankly.’

The consequences of these comments were seismic. Thatcher demanded Ridley’s resignation, she resigned herself a few months later, and for a quarter of a century thereafter successive Prime Ministers did their utmost to distance themselves from Ridley’s remarks. Lots of Britons shared his worries about German domination of the Euro, but comparing Helmut Kohl with Hitler was absurd and tasteless. By voicing legitimate concerns in such inflammatory terms, Ridley helped to marginalise the Eurosceptic cause for 20 years.

Twenty-seven years later, Ridley, Kohl and Thatcher are all dead, but Anglo-German relations are still tainted by that explosive interview. German diplomats and politicians remain acutely sensitive to the charge that the EU is a Teutonic plot to achieve by stealth what their forefathers failed to achieve in two world wars, and it’s this fear of being cast as Europe’s bully boys which means Germany will play no active role in the Brexit negotiations.

Germany has always been the EU’s most powerful economy, and Britain’s departure leaves the Bundesrepublik in an even more dominant position. Yet far from using this enhanced clout to steer the Brexit negotiations in a direction which would suit German industry, Germany’s leaders are now even more anxious than ever not to be seen throwing their weight around. I’ve spoken to Germans from the civil service and across the political spectrum, and they all say the same thing: Brexit is now purely a matter for the European Commission.

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