"As long ago as 1962 he [MacMillan] argued that we had to place and keep ourselves within the European Community. He saw it as essential then as it is today. Not to cut ourselves off from the realities of power, not to retreat into a ghetto of sentimentality about our past and so diminish our own control over our own destiny in the future..."
In November 1990 Sir Geoffrey Howe resigned his post as Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Thatcher. He was the last remaining member of Thatcher's original Cabinet and had served with her since 1979. Expressing strong concern that she was reluctant to commit to the economic and political union of Europe he addressed the House of Commons to announce the reasons for his resignation and made a strongly worded statement criticising Thatcher.
His resignation speech is generally regarded as the most significant event which led to Margaret Thatcher's own resignation.