War Wine and Taxes

The economic historian John Nye has a new book, War, Wine, and Taxes: The Political Economy of Anglo-French Trade, 1689-1900. Nye argues that the conventional wisdom that Britain was devoted to free trade after the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 is wrong. He says that the British retained high tariffs on a number of goods including French wine which lead to large welfare losses among Britons. The book has been reviewed at EH.Net and the reviewer is not convinced Nye is right.