Rhetoric of Empire and Federalism in the British Parliament prior to the Congress of Europe

This paper focuses on the British parliamentary debates on federal plans in Europe prior to the Congress of Europe in May 1948. Already before and during the Second World War, the House of Commons had debated on Britain’s role in Europe. But it was not until the unity of Europe had been endorsed by former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in his Zurich speech in 1946 that the issue became topical. According to Walter Lipgens’ classical work on the history of European integration, the speech convinced continental federalist movements of the British support for their cause. However, in British politics it created further tension between the government and opposition. The Labour government was struggling to legitimize its foreign policy. While some of the leading Labour politicians had been members of the Federal Union at the beginning of the Second World War, they now took distance from the movement. By applying a rhetorical approach, this paper seeks to show the various layers of political language at play in the British parliamentary context. It asks how and for what political purposes the ideas of federalism and empire were used. While discussing the main arguments presented in the House of Commons in relation to European unity, the paper offers a rhetorical perspective in order to illustrate the politics surrounding the issue, especially in relation to the ideas of empire and federalism.