BRITAIN AND EUROPE 1973-2020 • • METHOD 2

TE-H Method 2 docs

Stage 1 - Introduction: presenting the documents
Similarities: Both documents deal with the Conservative ambivalence towards Europe, here the European Union, when the UK was on its way out of the EEC (2015-2020) & David Cameron its Prime Minister (2010-2016).
Differences: The 1st document is an article by John Henley describing the UK-EU stormy relations and posted on The Guardian (broadsheet) website on 23 June 2016. The 2nd document is a cartoon by Clissold Scott about the winner of the 2016 referendum published in The Daily Star on 1 March 2016.
Give structure: In a 1st part I’ll describe the pressure PM Cameron was under thanks to the article & in a 2nd part I’ll focus on the referendum illustrated by the cartoon

Stage 2 - Analysing the documents

DESCRIBING - What you see (docs)
 INTERPRETING - What you know (notions)
1. Cameron under pressure to keep the UK in the EU with article except last §

Article P1 PM’s first attempt In 2011 Cameron vetoed an EU financial treaty / Euro
P2 His 2nd move In 2013 he promised a referendum on EU membership due to UKIP’s threat (attracting Tory Eurosceptics -which it did in 2014)
P3 His last try Tried negotiating with EU but it was busy with migrant crisis

- PM’s attempts, €, eurozone debt crisis (facts), soft Eurosceptic (def)
- UKIP (def), populism (def), migrant crisis (facts)
- Cameron negotiated less EU power in UK (facts) for less federalism, supranational superstate (defs), more sovereignty (defs)
2. The referendum of 23 June 2016 thanks to article last § & cartoon

=> P4 The referendum: Leave or remain?
The result: cartoon
foreground: ceremony with red carpet, trophy (unhappy face) & announcement like Oscar Awards
background: big fight in the UK but also inside the Tory Party: Out (Johnson) / In (Cameron)

Referendum result: ’Leave’ (51.9%) narrowly won over ‘Remain’ (48.1%) (facts) show British public opinion & Conservatives shift from soft to hard Euroscepticism (def) => Brexit (def) & Cameron’s resignation (facts)

Stage 3 - Concluding
Assess docs: To conclude, these documents are reliable as we have their full references ; the article is unbiased as it describes the facts, what actually happened, however/while the cartoon is biased (by nature) as it ridicules Cameron, Johnson and the British.
Sum-up ideas: These docs show how PM David Cameron, a soft Eurosceptic, tried and failed to appease his party & UKIP hard Eurosceptics. Consequently his referendum led to divorce with Europe and division in Britain.
Open: As Cameron resigned on 13 July 2016 to be replaced by Theresa May, we may wonder how she negotiated UK withdrawal from the EU.