Europe was the focus of the working and personal life of my friend Philip Whyte, who has died of pancreatic cancer, aged 49. Philip joined the Bank of England in 1990, where he worked on legislation to complete the EU’s single market. In 1996, he moved to the Economist Intelligence Unit, where he wrote presciently about western Europe. In 2007, he joined the Centre for European Reform, the pro-European thinktank.
Although a passionate supporter of Britain’s membership of the EU, Philip was often at odds with the orthodoxies of pro-Europeans. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, he was just as critical of policies in Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin as he was of the eurosceptic tide in London.
However, he was exasperated by what he saw as the delusional debate on EU membership in Britain. Most of the UK’s economic failings, he argued, originated at home rather than in Brussels. Leaving the EU would do nothing to tackle defects or reduce the UK’s regulatory burden, and would risk turning Britain into a more insular economy, which was against the grain of the country’s history. His work brought him sufficient recognition for him to act as specialist adviser to the House of Lords European Union committee. With a referendum on the UK’s membership looming, his good sense will be sorely missed in the public policy arena.
Philip’s parents, Stuart and Elizabeth, met in France while working for Nato in the 1950s and settled in Paris in the 70s when Stuart started working for the Western European Union. Although born in London, Philip spent most of his childhood in France, where he attended the Lycée International at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, an affluent suburb of Paris. After leaving Marlborough college, Wiltshire, he went to the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and then the London School of Economics. He lived for the rest of his life in that most European of quarters: Kensington.
Philip was passionate about travel and, together with his wife, Jane (nee Roberts), visited many remote corners of the world. A lover of cricket, diving, nature, live music, reading and Leeds United, he recognised the importance of enjoying life’s pleasures more than ever following his cancer diagnosis in 2013.
He is survived by Jane, whom he married in 2013, his parents, his brother, Matt, and sister, Kate.
