In the European Union there has been much ado about President Trump’s highly questionable decision to impose tariffs on imports. Perhaps European leaders should take a look in a mirror.
The United States President and his entourage are unquestionably putting America first. As a consequence this may mean, as media analysts are continually suggesting, Europe is on the point of losing its most powerful ally.
Whilst the EU may not imposed tariffs, it has saddled post-Brexit Britain with bureaucratic impositions that to many who no longer do business with Europe might describe as *tariffs in all but name”.
That the country traditionally ranked as the second most powerful ally is now being counted on to rack up its defence expenditure and play a stronger role is not going down well with the general public.
It is arguable that the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his somewhat fragmented team will run into powerful opposition when it comes to defending the EU. It has to be stated that support for Ukraine remains strong on the street but the public, understanding the financial pressures, seem increasingly critical of the EU and suggestions that “Britain should be part of the EU’s defence”.
It is far too soon and too difficult to predict how that mirror would reflect public reaction. But one thing the EU leaders travelling long distances to meetings might note is that almost everyone in the UK tends these days to comment that “history is repeating itself”.
It was former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt who reminded us on the BBC a few days ago, as the debate in Europe was heating up, that the ceding of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in 1938 was the point at which war became inevitable.
Few people in the UK have memories that go back that far, but a huge number of us remember the post war aftermath.
The post-Brexit British economy today is reflecting that of the years after the end of World War Two. Increasing numbers of people are commenting on the United States lease-lend pact and the debt that Britain only paid off in the 1990’s.
One of the options being floated in Westminster is a deal between Britain and the United States, with the UK being exempted from tariffs. That has echoes of a serious split between the EU and Britain and a deal with President Trump would be singularly unpopular in Brussels.
Britain remains a powerful ally within NATO largely due to it being a nuclear power, along with France, and it remains – with certain reservations – a democratic state. That raises one more extremely important question – the issue of the snap-elections in Germany in just over a week.
Rightly or wrongly, people I have been talking with regard the AfD, a possible winning contender, (and particularly popular with Elon Musk apparently– ed), as neo-fascist party. Should they win, or be part of a right wing coalition, the British public may judge that history really is repeating itself.
There were those in Britain – including certain members of the Royal family – that backed a deal with Hitler, but in today’s world the lessons of history would be a deciding factor for the general public.
Writing this on the Eurostar about to enter the Channel Tunnel I am personally appalled at the bureaucratic impediments associated with just visiting the EU for meetings in Brussels. I don’t have political opinions on this but I can well understand those who think the EU has “lost the plot”.
Unlikely though it is, the UK could be setting itself up for a general election in May. The prospect of increasing expenditure on defence for a family of nations heading right wing and continuing to penalise Britain for leaving the political union promises a political sea change.
That Keir Starmer’s view that British troops should be stationed in Ukraine has gone down like a sour grape across Europe is nothing compared to the probable reaction among the UK electorate who literally fear war is pending.
Suggestions that Europe should have its own army are a resurrection of an old idea borne of the idea that France and Germany should have a united army. That in both cases the language of that defence unity would be French amounts to the final nail in the coffin for a nation that stood alone – with its Empire and Commonealth countries for three years while European countries supported the Nazis or capitulated,
The increasing conversational trend in the UK that “we won them their freedom” has profound implications for politics in Britain.
*Explainer: The main image is a screenshot from the opening of Dad’s Army, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television from 1968 to 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total.
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