From Bruges to Brexit: nationalism, neoliberalism, and the Eurosceptic capture of the British Conservative Party

This article analyses the Bruges Group, a prominent Eurosceptic organisation in 1990s Britain. By examining the Group’s actions, publications, and financing, the article demonstrates that its role in the history of British Euroscepticism was more significant than previously suggested, as most literature has focused primarily on the Group’s role within the transnational ‘neoliberal thought collective’. The article addresses why the Group shifted from advocating Thatcherite liberal market reform of the EEC to supporting EU withdrawal, and why it aligned with the Eurosceptic faction within the Conservative Party rather than becoming an external Eurosceptic protest party. It argues that these transitions were driven by domestic political and strategic considerations, rather than ideological evolutions within the neoliberal thought collective. As recent scholarship on neoliberalism has suggested, this reveals an important contrapuntal relationship between neoliberal intellectuals and the political and economic context in which they have to operate.