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How Did Banal Nationalism and Euroscepticism Contribute to the Outcome of the Brexit Referendum?

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How Did Banal Nationalism and Euroscepticism Contribute to the Outcome of the Brexit Referendum? Katie Burrell / 11627360 Supervisor: Dr. Krisztina Lajosi-Moore Second reader: Dr. S. Rajagopalan. How did banal nationalism and Euroscepticism contribute to the outcome of the Brexit referendum? Abstract This thesis offers an analysis of the discourse that contributed to the British public voting to Leave the European Union. Brexit is frequently associated with the Right and common rhetoric blames racism or bigotry. I suggest that Leave was successful because of a combination of two concepts. The first is banal nationalism, a term coined by Michael Billing defined as the omnipresence of routinely familiar habits or everyday representations of the nation that continually act as a reminder of nationhood. The second is Euroscepticism: the criticism of the European Union. My thesis attempts to argue that Brexit is not just a right-wing grievance and the support for leaving the EU was far more nuanced than is understood in Brexit narratives. Euroscepticism has also characterised traditionally left-wing British politics. I argue that the combination of banal nationalism and Euroscepticism portrayed in the British mainstream media impelled Britons to vote to leave the European Union. There were many arguments to Leave but these resonated with voters because of the unique combination of media coverage of the EU in Britain and the traditional ideologies dominating the British public sphere. Keywords: Banal nationalism; Brexit; Euroscepticism; media; identity Contents Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 7 1. Banal Nationalism .............................................................................................................................. 8 1.1 My day survey ............................................................................................................................ 13 1.2 Euroscepticism part of British culture? ................................................................................. 17 2. THE RIGHT REBELS ............................................................................................................................ 20 2.1 Scapegoating migrants ............................................................................................................... 24 2.2 The rise of UKIP ...................................................................................................................... 26 3. Brexit was not always right. ............................................................................................................. 37 3.1 Labour’s battle begins ................................................................................................................ 43 4. BeLeave the media. .......................................................................................................................... 47 4.1 The media create their image of the EU .................................................................................... 50 5. It will be alright on the night. .......................................................................................................... 55 5.1 Picking sides and spreading lies ................................................................................................. 56 5.2 The church of the NHS ............................................................................................................ 59 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 67 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... 72 Methodology Critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the mainstream media can be used to analyse the ways in which Banal nationalism and Euroscepticism contributed to the outcome of the Brexit referendum. I will analyse politician’s speeches as well as their social media platforms. CDA does not characterise a subdiscipline or a certain field of discourse analysis but rather an explicitly critical approach, position or stance. It is typically multidisciplinary and especially focuses on the relations between discourse and society.1 In 1993, Teun van Dijk focused on the role of discourse in the (re)production and challenge of dominance. Defining dominance as the exercise of social power by elites, institutions or groups that result in social inequality.2 Analysing the variety of methods of discourse in Britain reveals a parallelism between discourse access and social power. A few individuals own the British media, in 2013 52.2% of online and print national news was controlled by just two individuals – Rupert Murdoch and Lord Rothermere.3 This power involves control that may pertain to action and cognition: the powerful group may limit the freedom of action of others, but also influence their mind.4 This thesis will be analysing these power structures that give authority to discourse. Politicians and the media have the authority and ability to create a discussion or to suppress it, potentially having a pervasive effect on public opinion. Banal nationalism is the routinely familiar habits or everyday representations of the nation that continually act as a reminder of nationhood. Nations are reproduced as ‘the’ world5 and is seen by its citizens as a natural and legitimate ‘community.’ One of the most effective tools to keep the nation in existence is through the media. Politicians are in a privileged position as they have access to parliamentary debates and indirect access to the media. Due to large online and print readership of the media, it can mould public opinion. Due to the dominance of the British media and the power of the few men who control this form of discourse, they are able to manipulate their audience to believe the ‘preferred’ social 1 Teun A. van Dijk, ‘Aims of Critical Discourse Analysis,’ Japanese Discourse, Vol. I (1995) p.17. 2 Teun A. van Dijk, ‘Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis, Discourse & Society,’ 4:2 (1993) p.250. 3 Ryan Curran, ‘British people think their media is the most biased and right-wing in Europe – and they’re probably right,’ The Independent, 8th February 2016 4 Van Dijk: ‘Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis,’ p.254. 5 Michael Billig, Banal Nationalism (Los Angeles, London, and New Delhi: Sage, 1995) p.93 cognitions that are in the interest of the dominant group.6 Because the media has so much power in shaping public attitudes I believe analysis of it will be an extremely valuable way to study the way in which banal nationalism and Euroscepticism contributed to the outcome of Brexit. Most British citizens get their information on the EU from their national press or their politicians; if the few powers that control the context of the press choose to represent the EU in a negative light and alternative voices are lacking then this discourse has a profound effect. Attacks, marginalisation and discrediting are some examples of properties of discourse of the dominant group. This is usually done to the powerless groups but at times it can be the elite attempting to discredit the elite. In times of populism, the “elite” can be powerless too. One example is The Daily Mail attempting to discredit Conservative MP, Dominic Grieve for meeting with Remainers. Because Grieve is a member of the powerful group he was able to ‘defend’ himself. On BBC Question Time on 14th June he responded to The Daily Mail’s accusations that he was “supping with the devil when he was meeting with Remainers”7 claimed Paul Dacre’s (previous editor of The Daily Mail) use of personal attacks creates “a level of debate which makes rational discussion impossible, and it’s deliberately designed to do it…he does it for the deliberate intention of trying to prevent people engaging in rational debate.”8 Powerful men that control the media are able to not only manipulate opinion but also exclude voices they do not approve of. Typical attacks are discrediting powerless groups, for example the alleged threat of immigrants to the dominant group. This is more successful as minorities do not have the same access as MPs. The motivation behind my thesis was to look at Brexit from a different perspective, most books or articles focus on UKIP or the Conservative’s role and do not acknowledge the left- wing view and role in the Leave campaign. Another common attitude is to simplify analysis and lay the blame on one or two things, rather than acknowledge the multifaceted nature of Brexit. I want to look at both sides of the political spectrum’s view, as well as the differences between their arguments for Leave. I admit I will be coming from a biased position because 6 Van Dijk, ‘Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis,’ p.280. 7 Jack Doyle, ‘Tory rebel Dominic Grieve insists he’s not out to destroy Brexit. So, what was he doing addressing a secretive meeting in the EU’s London HQ of those plotting to reverse it?,’ The Daily Mail, 13th June 2018 8 ‘Question Time,’ BBC iPlayer, 14th June 2018, accessed 16th June 2018, the result has affected me personally and I am not in favour of the outcome, but I believe acknowledging this will allow me to be as objective as possible. Concurring with van Dijk, “critical scholars cannot be aloof, let alone in a ‘neutral’ position
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