Tony Blair plotted to pull Britain into the euro in a secret push that was opposed by his personal ministers, official papers have revealed.
The former Prime Minister was so decided to ditch the pound that his advisors drew up plans for a referendum in 2004, regardless of fierce resistance from then-chancellor, Gordon Brown.
Documents launched by the National Archives expose the extraordinary lengths Mr Blair went to in his obsession with the European undertaking.
They reveal that simply 4 days after Mr Brown informed the House of Commons that Britain was not prepared to affix the euro, a senior aide was urging the Prime Minister to push forward regardless.
Arnab Banerji, Mr Blair’s senior economics advisor, wrote a memo on June 13 2003, claiming the advantages of becoming a member of can be so enormous they may pay for a “whole second NHS” inside 30 years.
In the extraordinary doc, titled “The Economic Case for the Euro”, Mr Banerji argued that signing as much as the only foreign money would generate a good thing about some £3billion a 12 months for the UK financial system.
He wrote: “[The benefit] compounds over 30 years to an annual increase in output equal to between 5% and 9% of GDP.”
Mr Banerji added that the NHS on the time value about 7% of GDP. The selection for the nation was “quite stark”, he wrote. “In 30 years’ time, we can enjoy benefits equivalent to a whole second NHS or have poorer services and higher taxes than would otherwise have been the case.”
The papers, reported within the Financial Times, present that lots of Mr Blair’s inside circle of aides accepted the argument and had been decided to press forward with euro membership.
They even mapped out the main points of a possible referendum, and instructed who would have the ability to vote if it went forward. Papers even revealed that they had settled on the query: “Should the United Kingdom adopt the Euro as its currency?”
Aides had additionally drafted a extra constructive model of the assertion that Mr Brown delivered to the Commons on June 9, 2003. In the model penned by unelected aides, Mr Brown would have pressured the advantages of becoming a member of the euro “more powerfully” the Financial Times reported, and would have even opened the door to a referendum on membership in 2004.
But the paperwork lay naked the bitter rift between Mr Blair and Mr Brown over the difficulty. They embody minutes of conferences within the coronary heart of presidency, which had been meant to make sure the 2 males agreed on messaging, after reporting of their variations.
One official, the late Jeremy Heywood, was reported to notice {that a} ministerial group engaged on sacking off the pound in favour of the euro wouldn’t be known as a “Cabinet committee”, regardless of being made up of Cabinet ministers, in addition to truly holding its conferences within the Cabinet room itself.
Instead it could be often called an “informal ministerial group” to “meet GB’s concerns”, Mr Heywood wrote. GB is known to reference Gordon Brown. The pressure between the 2 strongest males in authorities continued all through Mr Blair’s time at No 10. Mr Brown then killed off any hope of euro membership as quickly as he turned Prime Minister in 2007.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2151808/tony-blairs-secret-plot-uk