It was 45 months, two governments and three Prime Ministers ago that Britain's application for membership in the six-nation Common Market was brusquely vetoed by Charles de Gaulle. Though the guillotine was dropped by the general, the Tories, then in power, undoubtedly helped crank it up into lethal position by their haggling over petty details. Moreover, the Labor Party opposed entry all along and, for that matter, many British businessmen breathed a sigh of relief at having escaped the threat of immediate Continental competition.
But a lot has changed in Britain since then. Successive sterling crises have demonstrated to all...