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Ward, Paul

The end of Britishness? A historical perspective

Original Citation

Ward, Paul (2009) The end of Britishness? A historical perspective. British Politics Review, 4 (3). p. 3. ISSN 1890-4505

This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/7726/

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http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ British Politics Review Journal of the British Politics Society, Norway Volume 4 | No. 3 | Summer 2009

The Britishness debate Identity issues in a contested United Kingdom

CONTRIBUTORS Paul Ward • Arthur Aughey • Christopher Bryant • Vron Ware Espen Kallevik • Dana Arnold • Kristin M. Haugevik British Politics Review Editorial Volume 4 | No. 3 | Summer 2009 Identity in an age of uncertainty ISSN 1890-4505 Questioning national identity is a sign of our times. Throughout Europe, nation British Politics Review is a quarterly states are grappling with the challenges of subnational autonomy, globalisation, newsletter issued by the British Politics European integration and multiculturalism. Hardly anywhere, however, are Society, Norway. With contributions these questions more prevalent than in Britain, where openness to international from academic and journalistic sour- trade and migration has often been accompanied by caution and restraint when ces, the British Politics Review is aimed it comes to displays of national unity. British patriotism was confi rmed by the at everyone with a general interest in Second World War, so it is said: hardly a suffi cient platform for a national unity political developments in Britain. fi t for the twenty-fi rst century. British Politics Society, Norway is Arriving in England, wrote George Orwell in “The Lion and the Unicorn”, “you politically neutral and has no col- have immediately the sensation of breathing a different air… The beer is bitterer, the coins lective agenda apart from raising the are heavier, the grass is greener, the advertisements are more blatant. The crowds in the interest and knowledge of British big towns, with their mild knobby faces, their bad teeth and gentle manners, are different politics among the informed Norwe- from a European crowd.” While Britons may still be a particular breed, they are also gian public. asserting separate national identities to the extent that the future of the United Kingdom is in question, as discussed in the spring issue of British Politics Review. Editorial team This is also the challenge for Gordon Brown, a Scot yet a British prime minister, Øivind Bratberg [Editor] whose advocacy of Britishness and a shared national credo has expanded over Kristin M. Haugevik [Associate Editor] the last few years. Brown’s version of Britishness defends a historical set of values, Atle L. Wold [Scholarly Responsible] summarised in his British Council annual lecture of 2004 as “a passion for liberty John-Ivar S. Olsen [Secretary] anchored in a sense of duty and an intrinsic commitment to tolerance and fair play”. The Prime Minister’s efforts to create a united British football team for the 2012 Postal address London Olympics refl ect a wish to popularise this perception of unity. P.O. Box 6 Blindern N-0313 Oslo, Norway The Prime Minister has an arduous task in defi ning Britishness across geographical and political divides. His Conservative predecessor, John Major, Email met with criticism for championing the white middle classes of southern [email protected] England, his reference to “the country of long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs” fi nding little resonance in other parts of the Website population. A shared vision of Britishness today carries even greater diffi culties. www.britishpoliticssociety.no The recent announcement on the planned introduction of ID cards for British citizens illustrated the problem, seeing the Union Jack removed from the card to Print the benefi t of a fl oral pattern of shamrock, daffodil, thistle and rose, signifying Reprosentralen, Oslo, Norway the four nations of the UK. Cover photo The present issue of British Politics Review discusses Britishness in light of the The last night of the Proms, one of the multiple identities of Britain today. Our fi ne team of guest contributors include most popular classical music concerts Paul Ward, Arthur Aughey, Christopher Bryant, Vron Ware, Espen Kallevik and in the world, transmits traditional Bri- Dana Arnold. Together, they show the many dimensions of the debate today tish anthems to a multi-million audi- as well as its historical antecedents. Resolving identity in a multi-national and ence across the world. Held in Royal multicultural ”nation of nations” will be vital for the future of the British state. Albert Hall, the event also incorporates Can Britishness provide the answer? a number of outdoor venues, such as London’s Hyde Park seen here in 2008. [Photograph: Neil Rickards. Published under Øivind Bratberg and Kristin M. Haugevik, Editors Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License]

Manuscripts Contents Within a relatively broad framework, British Politics Review welcomes arti- The end of Britishness? A historical Britishness, multiculturalism and ethnicity cles on British politics and society, perspective Espen Kallevik p. 9 preferably related to the thematic Paul Ward p. 3 area set for each issue (announced in The architectural aesthetic of Britishness the previous issue and on our web- What is Britain for? Dana Arnold pp. 10-11 Arthur Aughey pp. 4-5 site). Please contact the editors at Britishness and the international dimension [email protected] The British question Kristin M. Haugevik p. 12 Christopher Bryant pp. 6-7 Subscriptions 100 NOK pr year Chasing Britishness: a post-colonial Please contact us at mail@britishpoli- project ticssociety.no or visit our website. Vron Ware p. 8

2 The end of Britishness? A historical perspective By Paul Ward Revival of a debate. history consisting of unity and integration Bonar Law among prime ministers who Discussion of Britishness as well as disunity and disintegration. have not been English and who have now seems endless. This array of historical examination addressed the multi-national nature of Googling “Britishness” suggests that current debates are part of a the UK. All of them found themselves returns hundreds of continuum rather than a break with the past. at the centre of power, foreshadowing thousands results for the Gordon Brown and his emphasis on last month alone. Almost And these historians are exploring Britishness in the twenty-fi rst century. any event relating discourses contemporary to their periods. to sport, politics and Some of these, without doubt, are discourses Alongside these discussions of the territorial culture seems to provoke challenging Britain and Britishness. From the aspects of Britishness there have been Paul Ward is a Profes- commentators to raise sor at the School of very beginning of the union between the UK equally persistent discussions of ethnicity the spectre of the crisis of Music, Humanities and Ireland in 1801 there have been multiple and Britishness. It is well to remember that Britishness. There have and Media, University voices opposing the imposition of Britishness. the Irish were frequently considered racially been newspaper and of Huddersfi eld. His different in the nineteenth century, and magazine articles, radio publications include The outcome in the early from the 1880s to 1930s Jewish Unionism in the fi and TV programmes, United Kingdom, 1920s was the rst contraction ”Britishness has immigration drew attention and a stream of blogs 1918-74 (Palgrave, in the size of the UK for never been a to the multi-ethnic nature discussing what it means 2005) and Britishness some centuries with the fi xed entity [...] of the UK, enriched also by to ”be British”. Without since 1870 (Routledge, establishment of the Irish fl pockets of black settlement in a doubt, Britishness is 2004). Free State, later the Republic but has been uid British port cities. In the early being discussed at unprecedented levels. of Ireland. However, not all and contested for twentieth century, some Jews non-English commentators on centuries.” tried to train others on how It is too often the case, though, that this Britishness in the period before to be English in the Jewish discussion is taken to mean that Britishness the 1970s were seeking to undermine it. It Lads’ Brigade, and black seafarers in the is at its end. It has been widely assumed has not been easy for the Scots, Welsh and British merchant marine used the phrase that the discussion of national identities in Northern Irish living in a UK dominated “British justice” in their demands for the UK is relatively recent, beginning with by the interminably insensitive English. improved working conditions. In the 1930s, Tom Nairn’s The Break-Up of Britain in 1977. But outer Britain has been part of Britain Jewish sportsmen wore the star of David Nairn suggested that it was only a matter while cultivating cultural belongings remote and the Union Jack. In the 1940s, Jewish of time until Britain and Britishness was no from any centrally imposed uniformity. ex-servicemen battled British fascists. The more. The articulation of arguments about Underway, there has been a constant post-1948 immigration of West Indians and Britishness have therefore been taken to dialogue about what it means to be South Asians was on a different scale to imply its demise. It is necessary, however, British. In the last hundred years alone it previous waves of immigration but many to take a historical perspective on current is possible to name David Lloyd George, of the discussions of what it had meant discussions of national identity in the James Ramsay MacDonald, and Andrew to be non-white and British that would UK – viewing them in their historical follow had already been pre-fi gured. context rather than as containing some essential truth about the future of Britain. Britishness has therefore never been a fi xed entity that would shatter if was Debates about Britishness have occurred discussed or challenged but has been fl uid frequently in the past – hence the volume and contested for centuries. Sometimes of historical discussion in the last 20 this has resulted in crisis – Catholic and years or so. Much of this, like that of nationalist Ireland’s war against the British Nairn, focuses on the contemporary UK, between 1916 and 1921 certainly warrants and the recent past, but it possible to cite the description of revolution, and the crisis books and articles that push discussion of Britishness was played out globally in back and back through history. There the end of the British Empire. But despite is a substantial number of works on these traumas, substantial numbers in Britishness in the twentieth century, the UK continue to consider themselves including my own Britishness since 1870 to share something that amounts to (2004) and Richard Weight’s Patriots (2002), Britishness. These shared institutions which argue very different positions. For and values include Parliament, the the nineteenth century, Keith Robbins’ monarchy, the British Army, the BBC, work should be mentioned, and Linda and the National Health Service. None Colley’s Britons (1992) is probably the of them are unanimously popular and most cited book on Britishness. Colley unchallenged, but they do provide a core argues that Britishness emerged out around which discussion of Britishness Protestantism in the eighteenth century, continues. When that discussion stops, while Britain was engaged in a series of then so too will Britishness. But so far, wars against the French Catholic ”other”. people are still talking, as Google shows.

The early modern period is now also well The University of Huddersfi eld has set covered by historians such Steven Ellis, up its own Academy for the Study of Sarah Barber and John Morril. Historians Britishness. Established in 2008, the such as J.G.A. Pocock and Hugh Kearney Academy coordinates research on citizenship, have emphasised just how important it Proclamation of the Irish Republic, Dublin 1916. Unity nationhood and identity across a broad range is to consider the history of the Atlantic within the UK and the British Empire has been challenged of academic disciplines. For more information archipelago in its Britannic context, as a on a number of occasions before, under different and harsher see http://www2.hud.ac.uk/asb/index.php circumstances. Photograph: public domain

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