What does it mean to be ‘100 per cent’ British?
KENAN Poleo, the London-born descendant of Turkish Cypriots who was recently appointed consul-general of the United Kingdom in İstanbul, recently released a video in which he declared himself to be “100 per cent British” following questions about his roots.
This is, of course, exactly what a diplomat representing the UK would say, but the statement has led some to ask the question of what it means to be “100 per cent British”, if such a thing exists at all, in the modern world.
Mr Poleo is not the first person to open up this type of conversation — the everaccelerating globalisation of our world has seen a lot of introspection in many countries, particularly in the West, as to what it means to belong to one place or another. Now, possibly more than ever before, people have the opportunity both to migrate across the world, and also to learn about the cultures and customs of other countries.
Today’s young people are in most cases much more aware of cultural diversity than their parents, and thus not only migrants and their children but young people native to any particular country will often view it in a very different light to their parents or grandparents.
This fact has created a reaction amongst the elder members of (particularly Western) populations. The marked rise of the far-right in countries across the Western world is a desperate grab, mostly on the behalf of older people, at preserving what they perceive to be their own country’s cultural integrity. Focusing back on the UK, we see this evidenced by electoral trends. There are exceptions to the rule, but the act of leaving the European Union, and the election victories of four successive Conservative Party governments were largely committed by people over the age of 50, while those younger than that often watched on in horror.
The reasons given for these policies are telling, too. Immigration, or rather the wish to curb it, was the
driving force behind people voting to leave the EU. It is also a main “wedge-issue” used by the Conservative Party — it is no coincidence that media supportive of the party find immigrants in dinghies in the English Channel whenever there is a government scandal.
The “culture wars” also play a role — they are not a particularly new phenomenon, but most definitely play a heightened role these days. Issues such as statues, flags, or singing the national anthem are not going to make people richer or poorer, but they do speak to people’s sense of what it means to be British, and thus the arguments about such things are so vehement.
The objection to immigration also speaks to these “culture wars”. There exists a fear, once again largely among older people, that immigrants into the UK will not adhere to “British values”, and that a non-adherence to those values will negatively impact the Britishness of the country. The flames of this fear are fanned by some in the British media, who run stories of “immigrants” scrounging on government benefits or committing crimes.
Globalisation and immigration cannot be stopped by ugly headlines or Conservative Party governments, however. The fact of the matter is that just as with every country, the UK has changed and is still changing as a result of immigration.
The much-celebrated new British tennis star Emma Raducanu has a Romanian father, a
Chinese mother, and was born in Canada.
Many of the English football team who reached the final of the European Championships this summer are descended from immigrants. Even inside the UK government itself, nowadays, there are descendants of immigrants — Priti Patel, Sajid Javid, Rishi Sunak, Dominic Raab, and the slightly Turkish Boris Johnson all have roots from elsewhere.
In this sense, therefore, the UK has already moved on from being a “pure” nation, if it ever was one. If three of the four great offices of state are held by descendants of immigrants, then the nation itself must be a nation of immigrants. In that sense, Kenan Poleo is not only well within his rights to call himself “100 per cent British”, but an embodiment of what that phrase means in the modern era.
With that much cleared up, it is time to talk about identity. The idea of one being “100 per cent British” or not in a time when the notion of Britishness is no longer tied to ethnicity (if it ever was) comes very much down to how one person or another chooses to identify themselves. Britishness is, in a sense, subjective nowadays.
Kenan Poleo as a British diplomat might feel nothing but British, but many other descendants of Turkish Cypriots in the UK may feel very differently. The same goes for any other person I have mentioned in this article.
Things like this often depend on circumstance — someone’s family circumstances, political alignment, or upbringing can lead to them viewing themselves as belonging to one “group”.
If I use myself as an example, despite growing up in the UK, I spent a lot of time over here while growing up, and therefore naturally grew more of an
Even inside the UK government itself, nowadays, there are descendants of immigrants — Priti Patel, Sajid Javid, Rishi Sunak, Dominic Raab, and the slightly Turkish Boris Johnson all have roots from elsewhere
attachment to Cyprus as a place than people who may have spent less time here than I did.
If asked to describe myself in the same words as Mr Poleo, I would hesitate at the term “100 per cent”.
I am British, of course, born in Abingdon-on-Thames and a holder of a British passport, but I am not just British. I am sure I am not alone in that sentiment. If I were, I would likely be writing this piece in the Oxford Mail rather than Cyprus Today.
It is possible, too, that this sentiment is generational. I have done no research whatsoever to back this up, but I do believe that the fact that I am 22 years old and grew up in an environment where it was normal that a classmate could be British and Palestinian, or British and Colombian, or British and South African at the same time had an impact.
There was no requirement or expectation in my youth for one to be “absolutely” British, and this duality of sentiment was accepted and normalised.
What is Britishness, then? If it is subjective and changeable, can it really apply to everyone? I would argue that it can. It is impossible for all aspects of a culture to apply to an entire nation, but that does not mean that nothing applies to anyone who is British.
I wrote at the start of this article about statues and flags and the national anthem, but there is much more to being British than that. Look, for example, at how the UK takes to its sporting heroes, how all of England came together to support its football team this summer, or the thousands that cheered Lewis Hamilton to victory at Silverstone, or how countless others have been taken into the hearts of the nation. Those are moments at which there does not exist a young or old, a “leave” or “remain”, or a question of whether one is “100 per cent British”.
Humour, too, is unifying. I have never met anyone who did not like The Two Ronnies or Only Fools and Horses, and I have watched enough repeats to know how good they are.
There are more “Marmite” shows out there — Jeremy Clarkson’s Top Gear is and long has been a guilty pleasure of mine — but my point is that British humour is another thing that brings people together.
There most definitely is a disconnect between generations of British people, and that disconnect between generations is likely close to irreparable as far as politics is concerned. We do unfortunately live in a time where politics has become polarised, and people are in many cases entrenched in absolutist views. At this point, with no generation willing to give an inch, it is likely that on a political level those divisions will remain.
Politics aside, there are still things which unify every British person. Britishness itself can and does mean many different things to many different people — what being British means to Kenan Poleo might be different from what it means to Emma Raducanu, or to UK government ministers, or to myself, but there will doubtless exist plenty of common ground between those points of view.
There is much to celebrate about being British, too. The outstanding performances of the country’s top athletes this summer chief among them, and also a wealth of culture and humour that goes far beyond what I could possibly describe in this column. Last, but not least, of course, a “100 per cent British” Turkish Cypriot man representing the country to the wonderful city of İstanbul.