Rule Britannia

by Danny Dorling

WHEN EMPIRES CRUMBLE, WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE LEFT IN THE RUINS In Rule Britannia, Danny Dorling and Sally Tomlinson argue that the vote to leave the EU was the last gasp of the old empire working its way out of the British psyche. Fuelled by a misplaced nostalgia, the result was driven by a lack of knowledge of our imperial history, by a profound anxiety about Britain s status today, and by a deeply unrealistic vision of our future. At a time when close relationships with our near neighbours are more crucial than ever before, Britain has opted to surrender its remaining influence and squander international goodwill. And yet, there is hope. In this wide-ranging and thoughtful analysis, now fully updated to cover the fallout from Brexit and the impact of *, Dorling and Tomlinson argue that if Britain can reconcile itself to its new place on the world stage, a new identity can be born from the ashes. Rule Britannia is a powerful call to leave behind the jingoistic ignorance of the past and build a fairer Britain, eradicating the inequality that blights our society and embracing our true strengths.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, British Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Danny Dorling is a British social geographer researching inequality and human geography. He is the Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography of the School of Geography and the Environment of the University of Oxford.

Danny Dorling has lived all his life in England. To try to counter his myopic world view, in 2006, Danny started working with a group of researchers on a project to remap the world (www.worldmapper.org).
He has published with many colleagues more than a dozen books on issues related to social inequalities in Britain and several hundred journal papers. Much of this work is available open access and will be added to this website soon.

His work concerns issues of housing, health, employment, education and poverty. Danny was employed as a play-worker in children’s summer play-schemes. He learnt the ethos of pre-school education where the underlying rationale was that playing is learning for living. He tries not to forget this. He is an Academician of the Academy of the Learned Societies in the Social Sciences, Honorary President of the Society of Cartographers and a patron of Roadpeace, the national charity for road crash victims.

Reviews

[Morgan Price · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Remainer and former student of imperial history, I had high hopes for this book, which strangely comes from Lord Ashcroft's Biteback Publishing despite criticising him at length. It argues that Brexit is the last gasp of Britain's search to find its place in the post-imperial age and results largely from the national arrogance that empire gave us.

A real problem with the book is that it focuses mostly on how the Tory-Brexit elite conceptualise Brexit, citing the imperial origins of the educational establishments they attended, their acceptance of inequality and their tactic of unfair free trade. There's much less discussion about the beliefs of the 52% of people who voted leave with regard to Britain's role in the world. We learn that British people generally misunderstand imperial history but, notwithstanding discussion about newspaper headlines about immigration, the authors don't add a lot of depth or nuance to their discussions about how public nostalgia or amnesia towards empire was experienced in the years leading up to the referendum. These were the people I was hoping to read about, and it feels like a missed opportunity to focus mostly on the politicians.

The most interesting discussions in this book are of the messaging about empire that British people have taken from their often-patchy schooling on empire. An especially poignant argument is that this happens in such an implicit way that a lot of British people would claim not to have had any education about empire. Nonetheless, some truly shocking quotes about the division of the world from not-so-old geography textbooks are hard to deny. Another chapter that works very well is the one on immigration, which guides us more thoroughly through the role of imperialist attitudes in simultaneously creating and denigrating the ethnic diversity we have today.

Reading this in 2020, we have the hindsight of the 2019 general election. However just over one year on from publication, this book already feels outdated. For example, the inner turmoil of the Tory party mentioned in one part has now mostly dissipated thanks to Johnson's purge of moderate voices. Equally, if there's anything 2019 proved, it's that conservative Middle England was not the only powerhouse of Brexit but instead, Brexit was the bizarre moment in which they found common ground with the working classes of the (former) Labour red wall - something that the authors go out of their way to deny. The attitudes of these voters are rarely discussed and it would be fascinating to see if empire was as big a factor for them as the authors argue for the Home Counties.

Overall, I have to say that the "empire" side of the argument too often gets lost in amongst discussions of the hypocrisies and failures of Tory governments in this book, which don't always seem to have much to do with empire at all. Sometimes they are connected with explanations as short and spurious as, when speaking of members of the Tory cabinet, "it is likely they were taught both an imperially oriented curriculum and one which gave them [a] sense of superiority". That is to say, the links between Brexit and imperialism often come across as rather tenuous. The definition of empire comes across quite hazily, with a reference to "inner-colonialism" within England serving to confirm my suspicions that the authors use the concept of empire too loosely to describe a general state of arrogance. I am convinced that the imperial legacy has a big role to play in explaining the mindset of Brexit Britain, but I can't help feeling that the arguments here are mostly too nebulous to really explain it.

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

this didn’t quite make a point? every chapter consisted of weird takes, a lot of repetition and then there was no real conclusion? no point was made? not sure it really assesses the impacts of Empire on Britain today beyond surface level, let alone on Brexit. The argumentation feels incomplete.

[Alexander Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are one of those books where the primary premise, once put forward and explained, becomes something that is at the same time slightly startling but also extremely self-apparent.

Rather than the general commentary on Brexit - a "stick in the eye" to the elite or a "protest vote" at the ruling powers - the book's hypothesis is that the vote can be traced to the culture of entitlement that flowed from the Empire and the decline of the UK in tandem with the dissolution of the Empire.

I think the book was great, and it did change some of my views on the vote that were picked up from lazy commentary from the press. This is a more thoughtful analysis.

One criticism, though, could be that the data is not always as clear as the authors make it out. The percentage leave votes by decile and the percentage of electorate voting for the far right are cases in point where the data seems to have been interpreted to fit the narrative.

Another is that Dorling and Tomlinson are perhaps too negative and scathing of the UK of today. This leads to certain passages that perhaps read as the authors tilting at windmills rather than a coherent and steady logic.

However, overall it's an essential read for anyone who is interested in Brexit.

[Ira · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a lot of confusion about how a whole country managed to sabotage itself in one gesture. And how the establishment managed to benefit from the anti-establishment sentiment, and vote. As sad as it is informative, this book does a huge service to clearing up confusion. Often weaving counter-narratives and redressing systematic imbalances in mainstream discourse, any inquisitive mind and honest intellect out there will enjoy reading the account of this peculiar disaster presented by the authors here.

[Vinicius · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book everyone needs to get hold of. Remainers, Leavers, undecided lots, or even those who are thoroughly alien to the discussion but are, probably, pawns to bigger political games in their own contexts. First and foremost, there's the big lesson of humility to be learnt in the context of a, as both authors correctly put it, jingoistic, long-extolled narrative. Which, in fact, has stirred more pain in the past, and present, than it is currently recognised to have had. Power is, in the end, in the hands of the very few, and so rarely trickles down to the nether parts of society, and change this must. How we effectively do that is by getting ourselves informed on what is actually transpiring around us, as well as how, and why, our forebears were involved in paving this (then) future we have no alternative but to live in.
Paddocks and their excluding privilege are the true enemies of the people(s), not immigrants, nor anyone who is somewhat different or coming from a different background than us. Unfortunately, voters haven't acknowledged that soon enough in the Brexit debate, and the whole process should likely leave them in a worse-off scenario than when it first started. But then only maybe the lesson of humility will be finally easily interpreted, as so very often your proclaimed saviour may be in fact a disguised foe.

[Leslie Yong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good and interesting book, with the
authors that are bold and frank in their writing, who has done many detailed research to provides all the statistics to support their writing & presentation - and to reveal a true and honest conditions of the colonial past histories that bring the country to the present day - ie what the country is experiencing and going through. One such highlights is the inequality in education that is still prevalent in Britain today. And those (hidden) self centered agenda of the politicians that brings about the dilemma faced by UK in the Brexit situation.

As the author aptly said, “.. (Britain) depleted of imagination by years of post empire introspection... there is just something amiss within Britain... and this book explains why we are where we are..’

It offer many provoking thoughts and the true behind those news as reported in the media

Read it to understand the exploitation of the English during their time of colonial rules in the British empire, which is quite pretty sad - but is engrossing and enlightening book.

[Peter Gates · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really can’t rate this book highly enough. Written by two individuals who have huge reputations for analysing social trends, it is a categorical deconstruction of the folly of Brexit.

Well researched and referenced the reader is taken through a roller coaster of the evils of the British Empire and an account of how the Brexit w is the last breath of the Empire builders.

I lost count of the possible powerful quotes this book provides and the forensic destruction of the Conservative Party is an absolute delight.

I was surprised this book was quite so explicitly political, though Danny Dorling positions himself within the radical left.

You won’t be disappointed!

[Simon Aebli · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent view on Brexit from a somewhat different perspective than usual brexit literature. Rather than explaining the leave vote directly with factors such as economy or migrant policy, Dorling and Tomlinson use them to show how they, together with a bygone age of empire, led to a common mindset unable to accomodate the supposed golden age of the past within post imperial europe. It is this mindset which is at once cause and consequence of a nation unable to integrate itself into a wider european context.

[Bob Duke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Empire 2.0

I had thought that visions of Empire 2.0 has driven the Brexit vote. This book makes a strong case for that. Whilst agreeing with much of it I feel that not enough weight was given to resentment to change and how this drives populism.

[Arno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eye-opening albeit quite pessimistic.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking with sensible arguments and hope for the future.
Enjoyed it.

[Helen (Helena/Nell) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dangerous book. Deliciously so.

It draws on facts. It gives the biographical background to the key players. It explains simply what the British Empire was and why it was never a Good Thing, why its legacy is infinitely perilous, and what has been happening over the last century.

It is plainly written, and never without humour. An education.

It was published before the final twist: the Westminster Conservative government's increase in power (not what the authors anticipated or construed as 'hope').

There will need to be another book now, making sense of what did and didn't happen, what has and hasn't happened, how and why the people of the Kingdom once United have got so lost. And in the meantime, some of the things the authors predicted are about to happen, or are happening at this moment.

It is no consolation to think that whatever befalls us now, we have in one way or another deserved it. But people have to learn somehow. Or at least live with the consequences of their leaders' actions:

'Brexit, whatever it eventually comes to mean, will be about Britain learning how small a country it really is -- how unimportant a trade partner it really is compared to the inflated propaganda about its imagined treatment. When you see Theresa May looking broken and Boris Johnson appearing to play the fool, you are seeing how Britain looks to the rest of the world.'

Oh dear, oh dear.

[Daniel Clemence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for understanding the reasons why the UK voted to leave the UK. The usual assumption that Brexit was the vote of the dispossessed and working classes is totally thrown on its head.
Rule Britannia looks at the decline of Britain's Empire and argues that much of the politics of Brexiters was shaped by that imperial past.

It argues that the wealthy supporters of the Brexit campaign and the members of parties that supported leaving the EU were connected to imperialism, whilst the support from older voters for Brexit was shaped by their memories of growing up as young people that Britain was a great country that ruled 25% of the world. This assumption of superiority in a powerful Britain is different to other assumptions that Brexit was caused by a rejection of globalisation.

The book also challenges the view that the empire was a good thing and for the first time, I had to deal with what British imperialism meant. The book also uses lots of graphs to show that poverty in a constituency was only partial in its effects on Brexit. This book I would argue is one of the best explanations of why the UK voted to Leave the EU.

[Jonathan Hull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially the book is a deep historical analysis of how Brexit came about and the consequences of many decisions and policies over the years that lead to today.

The spectre of empire and education - and how we view that period is really interesting and strikes a chord that more superficial analyses miss. This is not just an economic play but a cultural war that means our politicians mourn our loss of influence but don’t understand how to reshape this.

The final third of the book does drift into the polemical, which is a shame ( whether you agree with it or not) as it distracts from the great research and myth busting that the authors present - for example the myth that it was ‘ left behind’ towns that voted for Brexit as opposed to middle England.

Overall, the writing is fluent and entertaining. The book does cast extra light on the subject and begins to probe the consequences of that decision on the national psyche rather than the party or factional politics

[Mark Lilly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I first came across 'Danny' on youtube, where I found a series of lectures on the subject of this book. The lectures were chaotic and unstructured, with no introduction or sense of context. They were laden with bigoted pseudo-anecdotes pandering to the most facile and self-congratulatory. This was 'Woke' on crack cocaine. Examples: did people realise that about a hundred years ago Boris Johnson had used the word 'piccaninny'? did they know how significant it was that Nigel Farage's initials are the same as those of the National Front. (I swear I am not making this up.) All the most loathsome elements of the current race hysteria: demented insistence on conforming to what the brain-dead were thinking this week; thought-policing and witch-hunting. In short, one of the best recent examples of Stalinist left-Fascism.

[Jim Levi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a few works in the "Brexit Disaster" genre and this is a particularly good one with an interesting perspective on the English. Many years ago I remember a Northern Irish friend opining that "the English have no culture except imperialism" and that is part of Danny Dorling's point here. It is very opinionated, but very readable and contains much analysis that I had not seen elsewhere (eg giving a lie to the Northern Red Wall seats driving the leave vote as well as interesting facts about turnout). It ends optimistically - let's see if reality does, as the author takes a very long-term view.

[Steve Gillway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anything citing Billy Bragg's "Full English Brexit" must be pretty good and this does not disappoint. This is more overtly political and partisan than their more "academic" works. There are all the typical jibes of Remoaners, repeated bits of evidence and a propensity to take surveys as gospel. Aside from all this, there is a clear and cogent argument outlined about how the Empire - attitudes to and the effects -of have had some resonance in the whole Brexit debate. Even for the authors to suggest that if it hadn't happened in 2016, it would have in the future at some point.

[Bruce Newsome · Rating 1 out of 5]

So much time has passed since the referendum in 2016, and so little achieved, that Remainer polemics are being reissued in new editions. Reviewing them at their peak in 2018, I found them comically bad.

In 2020, they appear comically woke. They avoid the facts while accusing everyone else of ignorance. They retreat into echo chambers. They see bigotry everywhere. They love all things foreign. They long for supranationalism and miscategorise authoritarianism as “liberalism.”

Read more at this webpage

[Ken MacIntyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brexit Follies

Danny Dorling explodes a few Brexit and other myths. Older Southern and better off English Tory voters provided most of the Leave votes. The legacy of Empire underpins the UK's childish 4 year pursuit of the benefits of EU membership without the responsibilities, an arrogance that is blind to extreme inequality and public services eroded by austerity, cruelly exposed by the pandemic. Illustrated by fascinating charts and diagrams, it takes us up to last February.

[Henry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hugely disappointing. I don’t disagree with the book‘s broad thesis (although of course there are other aspects to Brexit too). But its mode of exposition - at once chippy and ingratiating, full of non-sequiturs, blithe assertions and ideological dogma - is tedious in the extreme. Compare Fintan O‘Toole‘s Heroic Failure - still the best thing I’ve read on Brexit by some margin. (Ivan Rogers’ 9 Lessons in Brexit and Heathcote Williams’ The Blond Beast of Brexit pretty good too, in their rather different ways.)

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really important and well researched book. Inspired by listening to the authors at Hay Festival. Puts Brexit into context as a country having a strop in the absence of dealing with the end of Empire in an honest and open manner. Interesting to read again alongside Akala’s Natives. (And also my first creepy intro to Dominic Cummings - we are doomed)

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and thought-provoking book which has been somewhat overtaken by events in the fast-moving Brexit saga. Worth a read.

[Lothario · Rating 4 out of 5]

The books presents a bleak outlook for the future of the UK, with very strong arguments to support the points. Definitely worth a read to get another perspective in a coherent manner.

[chu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting look on surface issues, but the arguments are repetitive & not very nuanced. Expected deeper exposition.

[bohemianrh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good points but definitely too long and repetitive. Could have used good editing to cut down the length of the book by half.

[Patrick G Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This makes very interesting and informative reading, though events have somewhat overtaken the projections for the outcome of the Article 50 process.I found myself in full agreement with a great deal of the book, though I will perhaps reserve my views on the viability, or indeed the ability, of the current Labour Party to challenge or change the outcome of Brexit. Certainly the hubris, lack of foresight and planning and the sheer arrogance of the Tory Party in particular and the Brexit voting populists will blight the country for many years to come. Since the book was published the Tory Party has won a “landslide” in an election (thought the peculiarities of the First Past The Post electoral system mean their “majority” is from 43% of the votes cast) and are now driving ahead in their insane belief that the United Kingdom can ignore all the rules of international trade, or make their own and compelling others to follow.

[Bas · Rating 1 out of 5]

This books sums up the blatantly obvious to everyone (besides the British elite).