I'm a bit less convinced by what you say about dearer and cheaper food. For example:
The anti-Europeans always regarded the CAP and dearer food, as one of the strongest arguments against joining
What dearer food exactly? Did food prices jump sharply in Britain between 1973 (date of entry) and say, '75 or '76 (stripping out oil shock-induced inflation)? (I admit I have no data on this, but don't recall anything from my own experience of that time). Don't forget that Britain negotiated, on entry, the right to go on importing foodstuffs from Commonwealth countries.
Another point is that, since the 1950s, the proportion of household budgets spent on food has been greatly reduced. Of course, it's relative, because incomes have risen -- but food prices have also fallen, and agricultural prices go on falling. You may fairly argue that, if Britain had been free to choose whatever it wanted on world markets, food would have been cheaper still. But Britain had argued the Commonwealth preference at the time of entry, saying it had a historical duty and a long-standing moral contract with suppliers like New Zealand -- would that have been thrown overboard to buy stuff from Brazil? Are the British quite as obsessed with cheap food as you say?
I'm quite sure you're right that Britain (England in particular) is urban-based and doesn't give much of a damn about rural matters. I'm not sure there's a flat-out consensus in favour of cheap food from anywhere, and never mind self-sufficiency or quality. A lot of people are willing to eat junk food, but junk food is not cheap (in terms of nutritive value). There are significant groups (middle class no doubt) who want organic, or traditional, or high-quality foodstuffs.
A query: how many British families, would you say, prefer cheaper New Zealand lamb to dearer British lamb?
Thinking about the question led me to consider the historical factors I set out in this diary.
There is no doubt that rural, agricultural interests have less political influence in modern Britain than in most countries.
There is also no doubt that the British, on the whole, prefer cheap food. The success of supermarkets in squeezing producer profit margins is well known.
Of couese not everyone in Britain believes in cheap food at any cost.
As to political attitudes to the CAP, I cannot think of any British politician over the past 35 years who has publicly said the policy was a positively good one. They may have done so, but if they did I did not notice.
The Glee Club, which holds a song event at Liberal Democrat conferences, still sings the Land Song. This is very radical indeed revolutionary in outlook. I can only say I am politicaly uneasy about its sentiments.
I have found a comment by someone called Robert Clancy, taken from the Kenry George News of September 1957.
"In its hey-day the Liberal party saw Cobden and Bright bring free trade to England. John Stuart Mill was one of its spokesmen. And in the days of Gladstone, when Henry George visited England, it is said that his land reform ideas were in almost daily discussion in Parliament.
A little later and land value taxation was a national issue. In the memorable year 1909 there was Liberal government with as brilliant a constellation of stars as was ever assembled -- Lord Asquith, Campbell-Bannerman, Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, James Bryce, John Morley, Edward Grey and a host of others. Across the country they campaigned for a national land valuation and sang the Land Song".
Alas! A series of calamities doomed the effort. The implacable opposition of vested interests, the exigencies of politics and coalitions, a disastrous world war, the rising tide of socialism -- all left the Liberal party and its issues on the sidelines by the 1920's".
The Land (Marching Thro' Georgia)
Sound the call for freedom boys, and sound it far and wide, March along to victory for God is on our side, While the voice of Nature thunders o'er the rising tide, 'God gave the land to the people!'
Chorus: The land, the land, 'twas God who made the land, The land, the land, the ground on which we stand, Why should we be beggars with the ballot in our hand? God made the land for the people.
Hark the sound is spreading from the East and from the West, Why should we work hard and let the landlords take the best? Make them pay their taxes on the land just like the rest, The land was meant for the people
Chorus
Clear the way for liberty, the land must all be free, Liberals will not falter from the fight, tho' stern it be, 'Til the flag we love so well will fly from sea to sea O'er the land that is free for the people
The army now is marching on, the battle to begin. The standard now is raised on high to face the battle din, We'll never cease from fighting 'til victory we win, And the land is free for the people
For example, it's ironic that France, pro-CAP par excellence, is a country which has seen massive super and hypermarket development since the 1970s, to a point where large distribution centres are probably more important than in the UK...
