Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

by Adam Tooze

The racial politics did not stop even at the person of the president of the United States. What right, Boris Johnson demanded to know, did Obama have to suggest to Britain concessions of sovereignty that the United States would never accept? Why should Britain trust a president who had removed the bust of Churchill from the Oval Office? “Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan President’s ancestral dislike of the British empire—of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender. Some said that perhaps Churchill was seen as less important than he once was. Perhaps his ideas were old-fashioned and out of date.” Johnson’s artfully placed dog whistle about the “part-Kenyan President” did the job. Johnson whistled and Farage came. Where Johnson prevaricated, Farage’s racist growl was unambiguous. As far as the leader of the UKIP was concerned, it was obvious that “Obama, because of his grandfather and Kenya and colonialization, bears a grudge against this country.”