The phrase ‘awkward partner’ is one of the most pervasive academic and popular descriptions of the UK in relation to the European Community (EC). It refers, inter alia, to a sense that British governments acting in the EC have tended to promote a ‘national’ rather than ‘European’ agenda. Yet the idea of the ‘awkward partner’ is problematic in part because it is a construction. Successive British prime ministers have chosen to frame UK-EC relations in terms of conflict rather than cooperation for domestic political gain. Furthermore, it is unclear whether this characterisation applies to British officials and politicians working in the institutions of the EC.

This paper will ask whether the term ‘awkward partner’ applies to the early generations of British officials and commissioners in Brussels. It will look at the roles of these actors in two episodes which are often seen as clear examples of the so-called awkward partnership: Harold Wilson’s renegotiation and Margaret Thatcher’s demand for a budget rebate. In both cases, British officials working in Brussels had to navigate conflicting loyalties to the UK and the EC, in addition to a difficult set of circumstances created by the wide-spread perception that their home government was acting in awkward ways. It will conclude with some thoughts about the extent to which their efforts helped to resolve the renegotiation and the budget question, and mitigate the damage that was done to the UK’s relationship with the EC.