Britain and France planned 'merger in 1950s'

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Once-secret papers from the National Archives have yielded the discoveries. On September 10, 1956, French Prime Minister Guy Mollet came to London to discuss the possibility of a merger between the two countries with Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden.

A British Cabinet paper from that period reads: "When the French Prime Minister, Monsieur Mollet, was recently in London he raised with the Prime Minister the possibility of a union between the United Kingdom and France."

At the time of the proposal, France was in economic difficulties and faced the escalating Suez crisis.

But when Mr Mollet's request for a union failed, the French premier quickly responded with another radical plan: that France be allowed to join the British Commonwealth.

According to the BBC, this proposal appears to have met with more warmth from the British politician.

A document dated September 28, 1956 records a conversation between Sir Anthony and his Cabinet Secretary, Sir Norman Brook.

It says: "The PM told him (Brook) on the telephone that he thought in the light of his talks with the French:

"That we should give immediate consideration to France joining the Commonwealth;

"That Monsieur Mollet had not thought there need be difficulty over France accepting the headship of her Majesty;

"That the French would welcome a common citizenship arrangement on the Irish basis."

Nonetheless, this proposal was also eventually rejected. A year later France signed the Treaty of Rome with Germany and the other founding nations of the Common Market.

Mike Thomson, presenter of the BBC's Document programme, writes on the BBC website that the revelatory papers "have lain virtually unnoticed since being released two decades ago".

No record of the proposals is thought to exist in French archives. Document's A Marriage Cordial will be broadcast on Radio 4 at 8pm tonight.