The great British optimism

From sports to diplomacy, trade to warfront - the British 'ability' to proclaim victory in the jaws of defeat is unique

If London’s newest but short-lived Underground station — “Gareth Southgate” — highlights one British idiosyncrasy, that monument to the Raj, the Durbar Court of the old India Office, illumines another. It inspired Boris Johnson with a vision as poignant as the apostle Paul’s on the road to Damascus. Both testify to the enviable British ability to proclaim victory in the jaws of defeat.

This is most dramatically illustrated by what Anglo-Saxon history books laud as the “Miracle of Dunkirk” in the summer of 1940. I have a childhood memory of my mother wondering how anyone could possibly boast of a mad scramble to run away from the enemy. But the British did so with pride and, as television programmes nearly 80 years later testify, still do so. Other nations would have been ashamed of a panic-stricken flight. For Winston Churchill, however, the British evacuation of France was a “miracle of deliverance”.

It was the same with the recent World Cup football tournament in Russia. First, Theresa May promised over and over again that the British government, the British Royal Family and the British public would severely boycott the games to punish Russia for poisoning people in Britain, as she claimed. She fell silent only when the England team’s prospects improved and hundreds of patriotic British fans ignored her fulminations and paid hugely inflated prices to get to Russia. It seemed likely that the prime minister would forget the fire and brimstone she had breathed for weeks if England made it to the finals. She might even have packed off some junior Royal to earn his or her share of the civil list by applauding the winning team in Russia.

Britain resonated to “It’s coming home”, chorus of the song that is English football’s de facto anthem. In the event, the World Cup didn’t come “home” although why Britain should be “home” beats me. However, that didn’t dampen optimism. The players hadn’t brought back the Cup but commentators exulted they had brought back the true spirit of football instead, and restored the emotional linkage between game and fans. Not that anyone noticed either loss until recovery was claimed in the ashes of defeat at the hands of obscure little Croatia. London Transport enthusiastically renamed Southgate station on the Piccadilly line “Gareth Southgate” (albeit only for three days) after the England manager.

There have been gains since then to compensate for France’s Cup. No one has suggested 12 Thai boys deliberately got stranded in a waterlogged cave to await the gallantry of intrepid British divers and potholers. But only jealous rivals accuse England captain and Golden Boot winner Harry Kane of what is called “stat-padding” which insinuates flat-track bullying and scoring against sub-standard opposition. Vietnamese basa can still be served as English cod in fish and chips when Mrs May stalks out of the European Fisheries Control Agency.

Trade is the touchstone. Crawford Falconer, Britain’s chief international trade negotiator, claims the whole world is “begging” to trade with Britain. But Donald Tusk dismissed Mrs May’s plan for “managed divergence” from the European Union as “cherry-picking”. The other Donald — Trump — ruled that the Chequers Brexit strategy had ruled out a US-Britain trade deal. Narendra Modi’s demand for visas in return for trade dealt the unkindest cut of all.

Britain hasn’t forgotten the lost jewel in the crown. Mrs May may not suffer from excessive historical sensitivity but Johnson writes he went into the Durbar Court on his first day as foreign secretary. Standing in that ornate marble monument to imperial glory, he was dazzled by a spectacular vision that forces him to fight for the prime ministerial crown.

Britain is deliberately trying to exorcise the past the Durbar Court symbolises. It used to be stressed that the building’s four doors were for four Indian princes of equal rank to enter simultaneously without yielding an inch of precedence. No one mentions any Indian link nowadays. They say Britain once entertained the Sultan of Turkey in the Durbar Court’s mock-oriental magnificence. 

It’s the Indian connection that sublimally inspired Johnson’s vision of how post-referendum Britain should think of itself. It inspired him to coin the term “Global Britain” for “a country that was more open, more outward-looking, more engaged with the world than ever before.” Refuting Dean Acheson’s cruel jibe that Britain had lost an empire without finding a role, he can claim triumphantly that Britain deliberately lost India to gain the world. The Raj hasn’t stopped hoping. The EU and US had better watch out.