WHEN France eventually allowed us into the Common Market we naively believed that we were joining a purely comercial organisation.

One Conservative statesman, however, was not so easily convinced. In his opinion, like the biblical Esau, we had sold our birthright for a mess of pottage. For this he was ridiculed.

Over the years, I believe that he was absolutely right as little by little, directive after directive, treaty by treaty, 1,000 years of British history has been consigned to the dustbin. We jettisoned our relationships with the many parts of the world to whom we gave our language, legal system and institutions in favour of the old adversaries whom we had overcome time after time.

I do appreciate that this view is probably confined to the remnants of my generation as today’s youth seem to agree with Henry Ford’s dictum that history is bunk.

Nevertheless I am mystified to understand what the europhiles think we have got out of the EU in return for what we have given up.

German cars, French wine, Spanish holidays etc, which we could have obtained anyway without having to pay billions for the privilege of club membership. Rather a poor mess of pottage.

A V Martin, Wigginton, York