The New European Movement Chair

There was a strong line-up to be elected the new Chair of the European Movement, Britain’s main pro-European campaigning body. True, they were all white males of a certain age but between them Dominic Grieve, Andrew Adonis and Peter Kellner had a wealth of different experience. Brexit may have happened, alas, but it is more important than ever that Britain has a positive relationship with our European neighbours, not just on trade — especially as.the Johnson government and its cheerleaders in the media are determined to blame the EU for all that is wrong. I watched the campaign videos that the three candidates prepared and confess that I changed my mind as a result. I had thought that having a well-coonected former Tory MP was what the EM needed now (though his predecessor Stephen Dorrell had been that too, despite defecting to the Liberal Democrats). Peter Kellner has widespread experience, too, not least as the former Head of YouGov. But Andrew Adonis has kept up the fight for Britain to be European, not just in the House of Lords and at public meetings up and down the country but also in his columns until recently in The New European and nowadays for Prospect. More important, he is determined to involve younger people in the campaign for a more European Britain — and he has an unequivocal commitment to making this a step by step march towards rejoining the EU. Britain should be at the heart of Europe though it may take some years before the public and the two major political parties accept that that is where we should be,