The sun never sets on nostalgia

Britons evoke memories of empire as Brexit chaos looms, writes Ishaan Tharoor.

British Prime Minister Theresa May may be on her last legs. Last month, she delayed a parliamentary vote on her much-maligned Brexit deal with Brussels, fearing it would go down in flames – and take her government with it. Several weeks later, the deal is still in limbo, saddled with fatal problems no one seems to be able to solve.

Now the March deadline for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union is looming, and the chances are rising that no deal will be reached. A ‘‘no-deal’’ Brexit would be a significant blow to the British economy, creating chaos at the country’s ports and even raising the prospect of shortages of medicines and other goods.

But as potential havoc draws near, May’s government seems to have its attention elsewhere. Burdened by their deliberations with Europe, key Cabinet ministers are instead trying to woo support from Britain’s former colonies.

In an interview published last weekend by the Telegraph, a British newspaper with a Toryfriendly line, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson offered a grandiose vision of a ‘‘global’’ post-Brexit Britain resuming a central place in world affairs.

‘‘This is our biggest moment as a nation since the end of the Second World War, when we can recast ourselves in a different way, we can actually play the role on the world stage that the world expects us to play,’’ Williamson said. He added that being free of Brussels would allow Westminster to ‘‘quite dramatically’’ shift focus, even saying that May’s government was planning on opening two new military bases in the Caribbean and Southeast Asia.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt made similar noises during a trip to Southeast Asia this week. He pointed to Britain’s historic – that is, colonial – ties to an arc of nations stretching from New Zealand to Malaysia. ‘‘Those connections are why Britain’s post-Brexit role should be to act as an invisible chain linking together the democracies of the world,’’ said Hunt, ‘‘those countries which share our values and support our belief in free trade, the rule of law and open societies.’’

Williamson and Hunt are hardly the first British officials to see the country’s post-Brexit future through the lens of the past. Imperial nostalgia has always shadowed the push for Brexit. Diehard Brexiteers conjured visions of Britain restored to its former glory once free of the EU’s bureaucratic shackles; government officials spoke of an ‘‘Empire 2.0,’’ anchored by new trade deals with Commonwealth countries.

But along with imperial nostalgia comes a fair amount of delusion. If Brexit takes place with no deal, Britain’s politicians won’t have the luxury to launch new projects away from Europe: They’ll be bogged down by a seemingly endless bureaucratic and political struggle with the continent.

Writing in the New Statesman, Paul Mason argued that rather than speaking airily of the country’s global reach, British leadership ought to focus specifically on the security challenges of jihadism and the new threats posed by Russia. The country ‘‘should be a major regional player in the defence of Europe against destabilisation and of our own society against terrorism,’’ he wrote.

But that requires greater cooperation with – not independence from – the rest of Europe.

With perhaps unintended irony, Hunt suggested that Britain should emulate one of its former colonies. His country could ‘‘learn lessons’’ from the economic success of Singapore, he said.

Critics would contend that the path Britain is now travelling is sending it in the opposite direction.

As potential havoc draws near, May’s government seems to have its attention elsewhere.

Ishaan Tharoor writes on foreign affairs for The Washington Post.