| Summary/Abstract |
One of the more bruising comments on David Cameron's premiership is that it boils down to one recurring theme: ‘doing what [Harold] Wilson did, only a little bit worse’.1 In the wake of the referendum, that verdict now looks generous. Like Cameron, Wilson was a reluctant European who led a divided party at a time of rising euroscepticism. Like Cameron, he pledged to renegotiate the terms of British membership and put them to the public in a referendum. The difference lies in the verdict. When the polls closed on 5 June 1975, Wilson had won a landslide for membership, winning more than two-thirds of the popular vote. Every part of the United Kingdom voted to stay in, with the exception only of Shetland and the Western Isles.
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