15 July 2020updated 09 Sep 2021 2:30pm

Haunted by the ghosts of 1940: why Britain is truly alone in the world

The vote to leave the EU in 2016 drew on the deep well of nostalgia for the moment when Britain stood gloriously alone. But times have changed.

By Peter Ricketts

CHURCH CROOKHAM, ENGLAND - MAY 08: Union Jack bunting is seen hanging outside a house to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) on May 08, 2020 in Church Crookham, United Kingdom. The UK commemorates the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) with a pared-back rota of events due to the coronavirus lockdown. On May 8th, 1945 the Allied Forces of World War II celebrated the formal acceptance of surrender of Nazi Germany. (Photo by Alex Burstow/Getty Images)

It is the fate of all old nations that the ghosts of their past linger in their present. The fateful summer of 1940, when France fell to Nazi Germany and British troops were rescued from Dunkirk, still haunts the collective memory in Britain.

The 80th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s broadcast on the BBC on 18 June 1940, in which he implored his fellow citizens to fight fascism, showed what a strong emotional charge that founding act of resistance still carries for the French.