The thing is that the UK was in many ways “running the show”
1. it got a sizable rebate - no other country got that. The UK paid less into the EU budget than France or Italy (two countries with then a lower GDP) and a lower per capita than many other countries
2. It got an opt-out from the Schengen
3. it got an indefinite opt-out from the euro
4. it got a full veto on any regulation it didn’t like
5. it had a commissioner in Brussels and 73 MEPs to formulate the regulations or prevent them being enforced in any way
Technically - no one country “runs the show” - not even Germany. Germany’s population was smaller than the UK’s in 1975 (remember that this was just West germany) and it’s economy was about the same as the UK’s
Yea, good points on the history, and no one could fully predict the future back then (I also remember that the Cold War was never supposed to end). So anyway what’s interesting is that when the EU did move to put the UK in its place, the politicians did not defend the UK, particularly Blair...and so here we are.