Editing Referendum Party (section)

===Background and ideology===
[[File:EU15-1995 European Union map.svg|thumb|The European Union as it existed in 1995, a year after the Referendum Party's formation|alt=A map of Europe with various countries shaded in dark blue.]]

The United Kingdom joined the [[European Communities]] (EC) in 1973. Following the [[Maastricht Treaty]] in 1993 the EC became the [[European Union]].The UK's ratification of the treaty in 1992, followed by its passing of the [[European Communities (Finance) Act]] in 1994–95, generated much controversy and infighting within the UK's [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]], which was then in government under Prime Minister [[John Major]].{{sfnm|1a1=Carter|1a2=Evans|1a3=Alderman|1a4=Gorham|1y=1998|1p=471|2a1=Heath|2a2=Jowell|2a3=Taylor|2a4=Thomson|2y=1998|2p=95}} This caused considerable damage to Major's administration, which was increasingly unpopular among the British population.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=471}} Various British newspapers, among them ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'', ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' and ''[[The Times]]'', had adopted a consistently Eurosceptic position.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=471}} Opinion polls suggested growing opposition to aspects of the EU in the UK.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=471}} More widely, the acceleration of the EU's integration process had resulted in the growth of Eurosceptic parties across many of its member states.{{sfn|Taggart|1998|p=363}}

The Anglo-French businessman [[James Goldsmith]] announced the formation of the Referendum Party on 27 November 1994.{{sfnm|1a1=Carter|1a2=Evans|1a3=Alderman|1a4=Gorham|1y=1998|1p=470|2a1=Ford|2a2=Goodwin|2y=2014|2p=26}}<ref name=wood>{{cite news|last=Wood|first=Nicholas|title=Goldsmith forms a Euro referendum party|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=28 November 1994|page=1}}</ref> Goldsmith had once been a strong supporter of the EC but had grown disenchanted with it during the early 1990s, becoming particularly concerned that it was forming into a [[superstate]] governed by centralised institutions in [[Brussels]].{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=470}} He opposed the Maastricht Treaty, believing that it resulted in increased German dominance in Europe.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=470}} As an [[economic protectionism|economic protectionist]], he was also critical of the EU's signing of the [[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]], believing that global free trade would damage both the EU's economy and his own business interests.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=470}}

Goldsmith had prior political experience, having been elected as a [[Member of the European Parliament]] (MEP) in France as part of the Eurosceptic [[Movement for France]] coalition [[1994 European Parliament election in France|in June 1994]].{{sfnm|1a1=Carter|1a2=Evans|1a3=Alderman|1a4=Gorham|1y=1998|1p=470|2a1=Ford|2a2=Goodwin|2y=2014|2p=26}} Although [[Frank Goldsmith|his father]] had been a Member of Parliament representing Britain's Conservative Party, and he had personally had a close relationship to the party when it was led by [[Margaret Thatcher]], Goldsmith wanted to launch his campaign independently of the Conservatives, hoping that it could draw on cross-party concerns about the direction of the EU.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=471}} At the time of the party's formation, Goldsmith had an estimated personal wealth of [[Pound sterling|£]]800 million,{{sfn|Ford|Goodwin|2014|p=26}} and promised to put £20 million into the party.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=471}} He pledged to spend at least £10 million on campaigning for the next general election, to ensure that his party was funded to the same extent as the country's larger political parties.{{sfnm|1a1=Butler|1a2=Kavanagh|1y=1997|1p=71|2a1=Ford|2a2=Goodwin|2y=2014|2p=26}} Goldsmith's intervention in British politics has been compared with that of the multi-millionaires [[Ross Perot]] [[Ross Perot presidential campaign, 1992|in the United States]] and [[Silvio Berlusconi]] in Italy.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=470}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote="Let me make just one promise, just one vow. We the rabble army, we in the Referendum Party, we will strive with all our strength to obtain for the people of these islands the right to decide whether or not Britain should remain a nation."|source=— James Goldsmith, 1994{{sfn|Ford|Goodwin|2014|p=26}} }}

According to the political scientists [[Matthew Goodwin]] and [[Robert Ford (academic)|Robert Ford]], the Referendum Party was "a classic [[Single-issue politics|single-issue]] party".{{sfn|Ford|Goodwin|2014|p=26}} Similarly, the political scientists Neil Carter, Mark Evans, Keith Alderman, and Simon Gorham described it as a "single-issue movement" that had attributes of both a [[political party]] and a [[Advocacy group|pressure group]].{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=484}} While it took part in elections, it focused on a single issue and stated that if it got [[Member of parliament|Members of Parliament]] (MP) elected their sole aim would be to secure a referendum.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=484}} It also claimed that on achieving its main aim, the party would disband, unlike most political parties;{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=484}} as Goldsmith put in his October 1995 "Statement of Aims": "This is a single-issue biodegradable party which will be dissolved once we have achieved our aim."{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=470}}

The referendum question which the party proposed was announced on 28 November 1996: "Do you want the United Kingdom to be part of a federal Europe or do you want the United Kingdom to return to an association of sovereign nations that are part of a common trading market?"{{sfnm|1a1=Butler|1a2=Kavanagh|1y=1997|1p=71|2a1=Carter|2a2=Evans|2a3=Alderman|2a4=Gorham|2y=1998|2p=4712|3a1=Heath|3a2=Jowell|3a3=Taylor|3a4=Thomson|3y=1998|3p=95}}<ref name="Question">Andrew Pierce, "Goldsmith chooses his words for big question on Europe", ''The Times'', London, 28 November 1996, p. 11.</ref> The political scientists [[David Butler (psephologist)|David Butler]] and [[Dennis Kavanagh]] noted that this question was often mocked for its "unrealistic ambiguity",{{sfn|Butler|Kavanagh|1997|p=72}} and some journalists referred to Goldsmith's venture as the "Referendum Only Party".{{sfn|Ford|Goodwin|2014|p=27}} Goldsmith did not position the party as explicitly opposed to the EU, instead stating that it was "wholly agnostic" about EU membership and just wanted to secure a referendum on the issue.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|pp=471–472}} The wording of the party's main question led one group of political scientists to note that it "clearly revealed Goldsmith's Eurosceptic colours" and that the wider pronouncements of the party became increasingly Eurosceptic as time went on.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=472}}