They got it wrong last time…
It is the tenth anniversary of Black Wednesday, 16 September 1992, and, across the nation, there will be diverse commemoration of that astonishing moment when the pound crashed out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism. Some may be brooding sorrowfully on the Tory party, which has not since recovered in the polls. Some may want to show a mark of respect to the myriad job losses, the 100,000 destroyed businesses, and the 1.75 million homes which were plunged into negative equity during the calamitous two years of Britain’s membership.
Here at The Spectator, we thought it right to remind you of all those who clamoured for the pound to join in October 1990, and who heroically pretended that the system was working. They are invariably the same people who are now, in spite of the catastrophe they helped to bring about, urging the union of the pound with the euro.
Michael Heseltine: ‘Entry into the ERM will provide a clear demonstration that we are determined to put our economy right’ (11 October 1989).
Roy Hattersley: ‘Membership of the ERM is an essential step towards the greater co-operation we want to see. We are eager to negotiate entry’ (15 November 1989).
Leon Brittan: ‘It really is a bit strange for you and I, and so many others, to have to continue arguing the merits of ERM membership in academic abstraction, when the practical effects are there for all to see’ (21 November 1989).
Matthew Taylor (a Lib Dem): ‘Membership of the ERM would give industry a more certain environment in which to operate and would help to bring an end to the stop-go approach which has done so much damage to industry’ (6 March 1990).
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