Britain's pretty great
Why the centre must win back patriotism
Over the last decade, the far-right have successfully blurred the line between patriotism and nationalism, and sometimes even ethnonationalism. They have co-opted the English flag and the Union Jack to be symbols of, not England and the UK, but anglo-centrism and anti-immigration. They’ve embedded the national anthem at the centre of the culture war. They’ve weaponised national identity as a means of excluding, rather than uniting people.
The centre and the left have, frankly, helped them in this endeavour. Highbrow liberals jeer at displays of patriotism, while the left refuses to acknowledge anything good about Britain and insists its institutions, historical figures and traditions should all be torn down.
Patriotism matters. A shared history, cause and culture brings communities together. Traditions and rituals, in general, last so long because they provide some kind of societal good. A sense of patriotism gets us through the bad times (there was a surge of patriotism during COVID), and makes good times better (like the wave of patriotism during the 2012 Olympics). Shared identity and values should, in theory, reduce crime and increase social cohesion.
Yet today the image of a patriot, both here and in the States, is of a bellowing bloke with a flag and a can of Fosters, storming into a government building or having a piss on a statue.
Too often in history, patriotism has been the first step on the dangerous road to nationalism. ‘My country is great’, has become ‘my country is the best’, and eventually ‘other people and other countries are lesser’ - causing swathes of war, cruelty, and segregation. But that slip to nationalism can only happen when the liberals and moderates abandon patriotism, and allow the fascists and far-right to own it as a cause and a badge.
In Britain today, the centre needs to win back the patriotic cause. We need to tell a better story about Britain - as a country that is pretty great. That’s not to ignore its shortcomings, or the masses of room for improvement - but one of the great things about Britain is that its people are never afraid (and have no reason to be afraid) to call out those flaws, and demand better.
Our national story, after all, has a lot for everyone to be proud of. We invented the welfare state. We fought against fascism and genocide in World War 2. We have built an extraordinary education system and produced brilliant minds in science, literature and art.
But we, liberals and centrists, have lost our grip on this version of the story.
When we let the extremes tell the story, nobody wins: that’s particularly pertinent when I think about our country’s commitment to diversity.
Diversity and tolerance
I’m reading Gandhi’s autobiography. As a young man, he spends time in England and in South Africa. His stories from South Africa are pretty harrowing tales of outright racism and racist abuse.
And while there is no doubt that discrimination, racism and segregation existed in 19th century Britain, it’s striking that he never mentions them in his account of England. His stories from London were mainly about the warmth he received from English hosts: their joviality and kindness (and occasional quirks).
Lest we forget, of course, that Britain was colonising India at the time. We have to acknowledge the political wrongs, but I think we should also note that it’s a trait of the British people throughout history to be kind and tolerant: and that’s something we should celebrate and aspire to. That’s why it’s all the more concerning when it is the racists that define what it is to be British: anti-racism should be ingrained in our national identity.
While there’s plenty more work to do, there are few countries that have created a multicultural democracy as successfully as Britain. The UK was one of the first countries to outlaw racial discrimination, for example.
I know that celebrating British strides in anti-racism will sound alarm bells. None of this is to undermine or ignore all the evil committed as a result of British colonialism, the systemic racism that still exists today, or the overt racism that just about every person of colour will at some point face in this country.
My point, though, is that accepting racism as a part of our national identity would be a tragedy. Both the far-left and the far-right want that to be the story, but I think it would make the fight for equality and fairness harder - not easier.
I think we’d be better off ingraining into our national identity that the British people are historically tolerant, and while the country has not always got it right - our journey is consistently towards anti-racism. If that is what it means to British, then we can proudly continue the fight against racism in all its forms and bring the whole country along with us.
The consequences of not owning this narrative is that the far-right get to define what it means to be British, and their values are far removed from the vast majority of this country.
How do we win back patriotism?
Patriotism is a powerful force for driving social change - but it is a power that, all too often, has been wielded for evil.
There is a lot that is worth celebrating about Britain that gets left out of the far-right version of patriotism. We are tolerant and diverse. We are the founders of democracy and defend it rigorously. We believe in the value of great education, some of the best education in the world in fact. We are a caring nation that built the welfare state.
Retelling that story has to be an ongoing effort. It requires liberal leaders to stop being so coy about patriotism and start reclaiming the language and symbols of it. The coyness comes from a fear of offending, because there is much that is wrong with Britain today and much wrong in our past. But one of the qualities of Britishness is that we never settle. When the monarchy exerted too much power, we invented democracy. When wealth was splitting our country down the middle, we invented healthcare free for all. Humility and improvement is in our DNA and is part of our national story.
We can acknowledge our flaws, but we mustn’t let it paralyse our patriotism.
Practically, liberals must also re-engage in the traditions and rituals that form part of our national identity. The far-right and reactionaries are desperate to capture Armistice Day - that is why, year after year, they spread fake news about poppy bans. But we mustn’t let them, because Armistice Day is at its heart a story about fighting fascism and standing up for the oppressed.
We must seek out opportunities to tell a British story we can all be proud of: like Danny Boyle did successfully in the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. If we don’t tell this story, we leave the pages blank for extremists to write their own version. It’s not just one speech or one flag that can fix this, there needs to be a constant thread of patriotic, inclusive storytelling through everything the government does.
An inclusive patriotism can bring the nation together and remind us of the ideals that make Britain a great place to live, a global leader and a nation to be worth working on.
