Matt Qvortrup, Columnist

A Happy Political Precedent for Cameron

Harold Wilson's narrow 1974 victory made way for EU membership.

May 12, 2015 at 5:17 PM UTC

Matt Qvortrup is a professor of political science and international relations at Coventry University. His most recent book is "Referendums and Ethnic Conflict."

A word from Harold Wilson.
Photographer: Reg Lancaster/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Image

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British Prime Minister David Cameron's election upset is being compared to the Conservative Party's even more stunning victory in 1992, when John Major snatched a narrow majority from the jaws of defeat -- and promptly spent the next five years watching his party destroy itself over Europe.

The analogy to Cameron's situation as he prepares to deliver a promised in-out referendum on the U.K.'s EU membership is obvious, but also misleading. A better comparison would be the 1974 election win of Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who also then fought an EU referendum. Not only did Wilson win that vote, he also put the U.K.'s Europe question to bed for a decade or more.