Who in a friendless world will now befriend us? We have picked the worst possible moment to forsake our European partners: an age of authoritarian nationalism and resurgent protectionism. Yet, although we find ourselves, quite understandably, in a funk, this seems unlikely to have enduring political significance. Foreign policy almost never decides general elections. Indeed, our concerns about Britain’s place in the world weren’t reflected in the choices we faced at the general election in June 2017, when the 48 per cent who voted to Remain in June 2016 were effectively disenfranchised.
All too often in modern British politics, questions of how and where we fit into the wider world – whether via the British empire, Europe, Nato or the “special relationship” with America – have served merely as the backdrop to domestic issues. Only rarely, as with the breakaway of the SDP from Labour in 1981 over Europe and nuclear disarmament, has foreign policy played much part in determining the shape of party politics. Instead, class-based disagreements about the scope and scale of the state dominate portrayals of the political scene.
Content from our partners
