Well, of course, he did, even though he had been against the idea
before the horrors of the Second World War seem to have caused his change of
mind. In a speech at the University of
Zurich in 1946 he said: 'We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of
toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth
living.' (http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/astonish.html. It’s true he didn’t envisage the UK joining
immediately: ‘The British Government
have rightly stated that they cannot commit this country to entering any
European Union without the agreement of the other members of the British
Commonwealth. We all agree with that
statement. But no time must be lost in
discussing the question with the Dominions and seeking to convince them that
their interests as well as ours lie in a United Europe.’ But he clearly saw the benefit of the union
of erstwhile warring states, something that had first been argued for after WW1
most notably by the Conservative MP, Sir Arthur Salter (1st Baron Salter GBE
KCB PC: 1881 – 1975) in his book ‘The United States of Europe’ (1923).
Ah, the wonders of history!
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