Editing Norman Lamont (section)

=== Brexit ===
In the period after his resignation, Lamont became the first leading politician to raise the prospect of Britain withdrawing from the European Union.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pilkington|first=Colin|date=1995|title=Britain in the European Union today|journal=Manchester University Press|pages=248}}</ref> Shortly before the [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum]], the journalist [[Matthew d'Ancona]] wrote that someone must have dared to make the initial leap to retrieve the "frozen thesis" from its glacial prison. "In the case of Brexit, it was Norman Lamont, the former chancellor of the exchequer, who dragged the idea back from the snowy wastes."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/15/brexit-how-a-fringe-idea-took-hold-tory-party|title=Brexit: how a fringe idea took hold of the Tory party|last=d'Ancona|first=Matthew|date=15 June 2016|website=The Guardian|access-date=16 March 2020|archive-date=6 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706210139/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/15/brexit-how-a-fringe-idea-took-hold-tory-party|url-status=live}}</ref>

At a private meeting of the [[Conservative Philosophy Group]] in 1994, he argued that withdrawal from the European Union was an option that should be restored to the range of serious possibilities, d'Ancona, who attended the meeting, wrote. Later that year at the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth, Lamont addressed a fringe meeting of the [[Selsdon Group]]. "When we come to examine the advantages of our membership today of the European Union they are remarkably elusive. As a former Chancellor, I can only say that I cannot pinpoint a single concrete advantage that unambiguously comes to this country because of our membership of the European Union," Lamont told the group. He rejected the argument made by [[Douglas Hurd]], the foreign secretary, who had claimed that the debate in Europe was turning Britain's way. "We deceive the British people and we deceive ourselves if we claim that we are winning the argument in Europe ... There is not a shred of evidence at Maastricht or since then that anyone accepts our view of Europe."<ref name="selsdon">Norman Lamont, "Speech to the Selsdon Group", Conservative Party Conference, 12 October 1994</ref>

Lamont implicitly challenged the view expressed by John Major, the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]: "It has recently been said that the option of leaving the Community was 'unthinkable.' I believe that this attitude is rather simplistic." He stopped short of arguing Britain should unilaterally withdraw from the European Union "today," but warned: "the issue may well return to the political agenda." Instead, he outlined an alternative to membership of a federal EU. "This means looking at all the options ranging from membership of an outer tier to participating solely in the [[European Economic Area]]. One day it may mean contemplating withdrawal."<ref name="selsdon"/>