At the bottom of all Brexit issues there is one that concerns the British identity which now needs answering
There is no end in sight to the twists provided by the Brexit saga. More than three years of talks between the UK and Brussels have revealed the limits of the British political class, and the stubbornness of Brussels institutions.
Beyond that, however, there is a deeper narrative worth exploring, one that goes back to Britain’s history and its relationship with the outside world.
That’s why Stephen Green’s Brexit and the British. Who Are We Now?’ is a gem of a book. The case for or against membership of the EU, argues Green, involves questions about sovereignty, migration and border control, commercial trade-offs, and also issues of geopolitics.
However, the most important question is one about identity. And Brexit has shown us how divided Britain is. Green tells us about the ‘Great Gatsby pattern’ and the deep inequalities of British society, but he also touches upon the impact of Brexit on the relationships with Scotland and Ireland. The new ‘Global Britain’ might, in fact, be shattered by centrifugal tendencies just when it is seeking ‘to assert itself’ on the world stage.
Brexit and the British makes for a truthful and at times uncomfortable read, the author recognises the flaws of the modern British consciousness, fed by a never-ending sense that ‘Britain deserves a special place in the pantheon of the world’, and admits what most Britons are not ready to admit: that the British identity is still deeply imbued by its imperial past.
This article is also published in the November/December issue of eastwest.
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At the bottom of all Brexit issues there is one that concerns the British identity which now needs answering
