Brexit: the great disappointment

"the "European project" has only ever had one real agenda underpinning everything it does.

This is a desire to integrate the countries of Europe so closely under a new system of government centralised in Brussels that it would be extremely difficult for any country to leave it."

Cross-posted from EUReferendum.com.

Booker has dedicated his last column of the year to Brexit matters, with the heading: "Europe's 'great deception' fooled our politicians for decades. Next up, the great disappointment...".

As we move on from enjoying our last pre-Brexit Christmas to thoughts of the year ahead, he writes, only one prediction can be made with absolute confidence: that the national mood next Christmas may not be quite so merry.

From there, he has managed to circumvent the usual Telegraph ban on mentioning my name by the device of referring to our book. Booker regards it as one of his most significant moments in the 27 years he has spent seriously reporting for The Telegraph on the EU and its impact on British life.

This, of course, is The Great Deception and, says Booker, it brought to light the true origins of the EU, as well as many long-hidden details of its history.

Writing this 600-plus page book was certainly an experience and far from being value-free. What we found in the process of writing convinced us of one unavoidable conclusion: that one day we would have to leave the EU.

The reason Booker has decided to mention it now is because some aspects of our research has particular relevance to where we find ourselves today. The first is that, to a much greater extent than is generally realised, the "European project" has only ever had one real agenda underpinning everything it does.

This is a desire to integrate the countries of Europe so closely under a new system of government centralised in Brussels that it would be extremely difficult for any country to leave it.

The reality of this is something a lot of people have difficulty coming to terms with, choosing to believe that what is now the EU is simply a benign trading bloc. Conservatives in particular have their own variation on this myth.

Many believe that the EEC started off as a nice cuddly trading agreement but somehow went off the rails and became "political" as continental politicians decided to exploit it in order to pursue a centuries-old ambition to unite Europe.

That this is a false picture is borne out by our research, which led to the title of our book. The original "great deception" stemmed from a deliberate decision by Jean Monnet and his "co-conspirators" including former Belgian prime minister Paul-Henri Spaak.

Their action came after the successful creation of the Coal and Steel Community when Monnet's ambition over-rode his natural caution and he pushed for a full-blown European Political Community (EPC) with its own constitution and its own European army.

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