Britain has never known its place in Europe

David Cameron: still challenged by EuropeGetty

After World War II, different European counties needed the European Union for very different reasons. For Germany, a commitment to democracy, after Nazism was expressed by a commitment to the EU. The French needed a new relationship with Germany – a kind of new economic interdependence – and found it in the EU.

Others, such as Spain, Italy and Greece, needed the EU to bookend a period of military control and dictatorship. Much ...