ABSTRACT
Speaking at the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in 1963, Labour leader and future prime minister Harold Wilson identified the challenge a post-Imperial Britain faced in finding a place in the world: ‘There is no more dangerous illusion than the comfortable doctrine that the world owes us a living. … From now on Britain will have just as much influence in the world as we can earn, as we can deserve.’ 1 His words are as relevant today as they were in 1963. In 2021, it is not a post-Imperial Britain but a post-Brexit Britain that stands at a crossroads. 2 However, the government’s attempts to use the notion of ‘Global Britain’ to present Brexit as an opportunity to re-cast the country’s engagement in world affairs have elicited considerable criticism, 3 particularly in light of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the suppression of political liberties in Hong Kong. 4 Criticisms have focused on how Britain would be a diminished international actor outside the European Union, pursuing a foreign policy ‘warped by delusions of national grandeur’ and lacking the necessary diplomatic and military means to influence events. 5
