Europe

Completely agree that there is a section of population which yearns for the old days. However that section of society is the one that voted to leave in the first place, so it's a bit of a false equivalence, but not totally invalid.

I think you're being a bit literal in your interpretation of "centre" here. Being one of the largest countries would give the UK a larger say over things, in Parliament, than smaller nations. Personally I'd say that would mean it's closer to the centre than it currently is, being very much on the outside.

That being said, this is also just what Heseltine is saying, and he's an old Tory who still defends what he did as part of Thatcher's government, so he'd be one of the last people I'd want to define the future of the UK in the EU.