A flurry of news came out this morning, as Donald Trump blasted NATO and the Transatlantic relationship, and Philip Hammond, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, made some of strongest statements yet on Britain’s negotiating strategy as it tries to leave the European Union. Both Hammond’s comments, and the British government in general’s response to the Trump administration for me really highlight to problems we are having here in Britain as this Brexit fiasco continues.

First, we’ll start with Donald Trump. In case it hasn’t really been made clear to most of you reading, to some it has become pretty clear what the May Ministry’s international relations strategy is going to be post-Brexit. It’s going to be cosy up to the Trump Administration, and try and reignite the special relationship. Once again, Britain’s bipolar attitude to the Western world has bounced back, the pendulum swinging all the way back to the American, Anglophone world. It’s as if once every 10 years Britain’s political class completely flip their geopolitical objectives, ping-ponging across the Atlantic between America and the continent like some ridiculous game of table tennis. And don’t mistake anything, we are not prized goods here in Britain, being fought over by the two halves of the West – we are being beaten away every time we become a nuisance. Having burnt all our bridges with our own continent, we are going to vassalise ourselves to a country which has just come under the influence of the one of the most reactionary administrations ever to set foot in the White House. For any Gaullists out there, you were right: Britain really is America’s Trojan Horse.

How do we know this? Look at the government’s recent actions: out-going Secretary of State, John Kerry, made a perfectly sensible speech about the importance of a two-state solution being found between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and the absolute ludicrous thought that a single-state solution, with Palestinians effectively being subjugated by the Israelis, could actually work. What statement was put out by the British government? A criticism of the tone of Kerry’s speech. Then what do we find? In an article in the FT this morning about Trump’s attack on NATO and the EU, we hear mention of Britain again. Not only was it MP, failed prime ministerial candidate and former ‘journalist’ Michael Gove doing the interviewing, but it turns out Prime Minister May is planning to visit the President-elect, joining a short list of other bespoke European politicians who have paid homage to Mr Trump, such as Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen (allegedly). Furthermore, the government declined to attend a conference in Paris on Sunday in support of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So here we are then, Britain kowtowing, submitted itself to the whims of an egomaniac who has called NATO obsolete, denies climate change is real and man-made and seems to be implicitly hoping the the disintegration of the European Union. Yes, I understand that Trump is perhaps May’s only ally when it comes to Brexit, however this is utterly ridiculous. It feels like we’re back in the 50s and 60s, an outlying American protectorate, a listening post for surveillance of the continent. It makes you embarrassed to be British.

Philip Hammond’s comments remind us however just how much of a departure we’ve had from our past, and just how uncharted these waters are, which we are now in. Let’s be honest, we’ve heard some fairly stern words from European politicians when commenting about Brexit – they don’t want to compromise on the Four Freedoms, Britain cannot pick and choose which parts of the EU it wants, things will not be better for Britain outside the EU etc. But this was of course to be expected, just as the British government was expected to say that they can and will make a success of Brexit, and get the best deal for Britain. I was not under the impression that there was any significant tension of conflict really, there had been no accusations, no insults, no confrontations. And yet, here we are, reading about how the Chancellor of the Exchequer is telling a German newspaper “The British people are not going to lie down and say, ‘too bad, we’ve been wounded’.” What in the world have we been wounded over? Yes, he was being asked whether Britain would become tax haven, however, the Chancellor admitted at the same time that if we were not granted access to the Single Market, Britain would become a low-tax competitor. So there we are, not quite Singapore apparently, but an offshore tax-haven nonetheless. No doubt with a neoliberal dose of deregulation and cuts to welfare to boot.

It’s not just the prospect of a proud nation like Britain debasing itself to becoming a tax-haven, much of the country becoming outgrowths of the City. It is the idea that Britain in the space of a few months has completely cut itself off from the continent, now with members of the government inflaming cross-channel relations in foreign capitals (and the press stoking the fires even more with headlines such as ‘Why our cautious Chancellor’s just dropped a Brexit bomb on Berlin’). Britain has spent the best part of the last 400 years trying to maintain a balance of power on the continent; to build a web of alliances among the European states in order to ensure we are not locked out of the mainland and we still hold some influence among our peers. This was for the purposes of trade as well as security – maintaining good relations with different parts of the continent were among our highest geopolitical interests. And all of that is now gone. I spoke of how Theresa May was in the process of burning all our bridges with Europe in favour of a more Anglophone orientation. Philip Hammond it seems is just as willing to get on with the job. Almost 4 centuries of foreign policy, wiped away. Indeed, times change, but there is a reason why successive British governments recognised maintaining a presence on the continent was necessary. From Charles V to Phillip II. Louis XIV to Napoleon. Wilhelm II and Hitler. All of these men aimed to dominate the continent and shut Britain out, and each time Britain has inspired those resisting such hegemony and in so doing has kept Europe open to British influence. Now Britain is walking away, and worse, acting as if she has been bullied out of Europe.

A gap between Britain and Europe is rapidly growing to become a chasm. And it is not just between the Island and the mainland, but within Britain as well. British identity is weakening. It has just rejected its European links, but in favour of Trump’s America? I hope not. Who the British are as a people is something to be worked out along with the relationships that will be built between Britain and the world post-Brexit. It seems a growing consensus is that the Scots are no longer British – though I don’t believe that. The rot at the heart of Britain’s identity and self-confidence goes deep. Hopefully it can be cut out, before it tears the once great people apart.

Sources: Die Welt, FT