Borris Johnson, on a post-Brexit state visit to Pakistan, declared that two per cent of the British population can trace its origin to this land creating an “indissoluble bond” and called for closer ties between the two countries as the UK embarks on its mission to have a “global outlook” after voting to leaving the EU. Johnsons’s fawning over the past empire will not come as a surprise to those who have followed his career, but what should the people of Pakistan make of these allegedly deep bonds with their former colonial masters? Is there any popular desire to rekindle the links with this distant European island? To answer this question one must first look to Britain which is undergoing a reimagining of its identity and place in the world.
With political turmoil of Brexit and an ever-shakier British Union, the UK has been forced reconsider where it stands in the world. Many of the Brexiteers have declared Britain as now open for business on the international stage, now it has been released from the “shackles” of Brussels. With the declaration of “global Britain” the rhetoric has crept back to the last time Britain was a global nation; however now the imperial pink has all but gone from the map with only a few far-flung outposts remaining as reminders of the Empire’s former reach. Many MP’s have been calling for the better trade deals with the Commonwealth, though it is not clear how prepared the UK really is to deal with Pakistan on an equal footing. When the UK is trading on colonial nostalgia it is difficult to see a meaningful and mutual beneficial relationship, with the subcontinent.
There has been a concerted push to get better trade deals between the colonies in the Anglosphere. After Theresa May’s first visit to the USA Brietbart, a far-right news outlet, declared it as a heralding of “the return of the Anglosphere”. The desire for further cooperation between the “English speaking peoples” has been taken up by British MP’s such as Daniel Hannan, who has called for a union of English speaking countries. This idea has manifested itself into the political organisation CANZUK, which is backed by the influential media mogul Conrad Black. In contrast, the non-English speaking commonwealth countries have not received such a warm embrace; one cannot envisage the likes of Hannan calling for close bonds with the Caribbean Commonwealth countries, which also share a common language and monarch with the UK. Pakistan, a country further removed from the “shared heritage” of the CANZUK nations by virtue of its distant language, culture and religion, is at risk of being marginalized. So how can an organisation striving for equality, which so brazenly plays favorites, be positively received in Commonwealth countries outside of the Anglosphere?
The idea that the predominantly white English speaking CANZUK nations are just extensions of the UK abroad runs deep. Boris Johnson once claimed the UK joining the common market was an act of betrayal toward the commonwealth countries like “Australia and New Zealand”. Boris at one point even suggested a free movement between Australia and the UK. This was in contrast to his campaign to leave the EU, a campaign that heavily focused on curtailing European immigration particularly from Eastern Europe. Antipodean immigrants have always held a different status then immigrants from developing countries; the term expat is often reserved for them, as opposed to the derisive term of immigrant, reveals that the idea they are still part of the imperial family has never fully left the British psyche.
In an article for the New Statesman, Jonathan Line, Director of British Influence, cuttingly stated, “The loss of our own empire remains an unacknowledged national trauma, which we both grieve and fail to accept”. A 2014 YouGov poll found that 59 per cent of respondents thought the British Empire was “more something to be proud of” rather than ashamed of. However it would be misleading to characterise the recent rise of British imperial nostalgia as a phenomenon without severe tensions and fault lines in a country that is acutely divided.
The Brexit vote showed the new conflicts in British society as young middle-class voters rallied around the EU as a progressive cause, seeing themselves more as international citizens. The Brexitvote came from deprived working-class areas in the post-industrial North of England, left behind by globalisation, as well as from an older generation that holds to national identity more dearly. The British Union is on increasingly shakey ground as the Scottish National Party (SNP) dominate local politics, taking all but one Westminster seat in the 2015 general election. The SNP’s strangle hold on Scottish politics is evident in their threats to once again hold an independence referendum after they were dragged out of the EU by England and Wales — Scotland voted to remain by a margin of 62 per cent to 38.If the socio-political distance between England and Scotland- countries which share a remarkable amount of culture and links — has grown, it makes the commonwealth attachments between the UK and Pakistan seem consigned to the history books.
It is difficult to see post-Brexit attitudes as sustainable given the current limits to Britain’s global reach and influence. Although we’ll never truly see the demise of British nationalism, it is unlikely to continue in its current pseudo-imperialist trajectory. The hypocritical tirade of UK, EU and US populist-nationalists against the globalization bogeyman is ironic because the ideas of these movements are organized and disseminated through globalised communication such as social media and internet forums. The erosion of national and cultural barriers through globalised communication, economy and infrastructure means that romantic imperialist notions dissolve on contact with political realities. India, which some politicians have pinned their post Brexit trade hopes on, recently rebuffed British trade interests over the Theresa May’s past decision to cancel Indian post university visas. Britain faces a difficult task in forging a new identity and place in the world; its revitalised interest in the former Empire will certainly bring a revaluation of the colonial legacy in the wider commonwealth.
The writer is UK-based freelance columnist