Britain’s Renewal After Trump and Brexit

Market Overview June 06, 2019 (0)

US President Donald Trump’s long-postponed state visit to the United Kingdom has now come and gone. He leaves in his wake a Britain that is consumed not only by a stalled Brexit and the unending debate about it, but also by a far more profound crisis of identity that Brexit has exposed and aggravated.

LONDON – After three days of pomp and ceremony that presented an image of a seemingly unchanging Britain, US President Donald Trump has now departed London. But beneath the veneer of pageantry, Britain is consumed not only by a stalled Brexit and the unending debate about it, but also by a far more profound crisis of identity: a struggle to rediscover what it is to be British.

There is a grim irony that this week also marks the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, which began the liberation of Europe from fascism. The current governing Conservative Party now seems hell-bent on forswearing any agreement with the European Union, declaring a no-deal Brexit, and crashing out of the EU on October 31 – an outcome that would amount to a declaration of economic war on Britain’s continental neighbors.

The Britain that long prided itself on being pragmatic, tolerant, and fair-minded is now at risk of incubating an inward-looking, intolerant, and adversarial brand of nativism.Yet for centuries, our island status led us to look outward, as explorers, traders, missionaries, diplomats, and merchant venturers who saw the English Channel not as a moat but as a highway.

We were among the first to practice political tolerance. Long before the American Revolution, as the French philosopher Montesquieu conceded perhaps reluctantly, Britain had pioneered the modern idea of liberty. In the centuries that followed, we championed what Winston Churchill defined as one of our most important national characteristics: a belief in what he called “fair play.”

But the meteoric rise of the Brexit Party, led by the anti-European Nigel Farage, and Farage’s success in setting the terms for choosing the next Conservative prime minister, has the rest of the world wondering what has happened to the moderate, rational, non-ideological Britain famed for its empiricism and belief in evolutionary rather than revolutionary change.

Farage has more in common with French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in their willful desire to destroy any institution labeled “global” or “European” than with traditional British values. And, by identifying patriotism with a crude us-against-them nativism that targets and demonizes immigrants, Europeans, and Muslims, he is redefining our country as introverted and xenophobic – in effect, hijacking our history and what it means to be British.

In a leaked 14-page memo, Britain’s most senior civil servant tells us that with a no-deal Brexit, prices would go up 10%, a recession would follow, and civil disorder could not be ruled out. In addition, the Northern Ireland peace settlement could collapse and the Union with Scotland would be in jeopardy. But thanks to Farage – and the Faragism that has taken over the governing Conservative Party – an act of economic self-harm that clearly runs counter to the national interest is portrayed as the apotheosis of British patriotism.

Narrow-minded nationalism is not simply a British disease: across the West, much of the public sees globalization as leaderless, lacking a human face, and akin to an uncontrollable runaway train. Moderate leaders everywhere must now respond not only to the economic discontent of millions who are losing out, but also to the cultural pessimism and the dismissal of politicians as being “in it only for themselves” that are giving succor to the populist nationalism promoted by Trump cheerleader Stephen Bannon and his ilk.