An American looks at the self-debasement of the British Establishment | William Franklin
There is a certain type of American conservative for whom Britain is a model, almost a model parent. We recognize that what is best in our country comes from here. Some are overtly Loyalist, although this often comes across as good-naturedly eccentric and anachronistic. I count myself among them. Unlike many of my deeply republican compatriots, I truly like this country. I consider it a part of who I am, and I want to see it prosper.
Yet, I must report, after living in this country several years, my illusions have been thoroughly dispelled. I expected period drama and what I got was more so music hall comedy. What I am about to say about British conservatives does not apply to all of them. It does, however, apply to many of the most prominent – both in government and around it. It is also not an attack for the sake of attack. Consider it more a grown child addressing a parent who has disappointed him.
The fact of the matter is that most of the British ruling elite have become one of two things: self-parodies or tiresome overgrown children desperate to prove how cool they are.
Falling into the self-parody category are those who seem to have watched the television adaption of Jeeves and Wooster and tried to integrate the characters into their personalities. These appear to be people from upper-class backgrounds – of varying degrees of legitimacy – who have decided that the best way to fit into contemporary British society is to play the aristo role with a wink and a nod.
The cool kids, on the other hand, are even more embarrassing. If you attend a conservative event in America almost everyone there will be properly dressed. They will wear shirts, ties, shoes – the whole nine yards. In contemporary Britain this is not the case. The rule seems to be ‘blazer and sneakers’.
Far be it from giving rise to light-heartedness, the British scene seems somewhat stiff; in trying desperately to prove that the British elite have ‘loosened up’ the whole thing becomes ritualistic and stuffy. A stern schoolmistress instructing her pupils that the next ten minutes will be allocated for ‘scheduled fun’ comes to mind. Ironically, the ‘buttoned-up’ American scene is much looser because no one is trying to be someone they are not.
These aesthetics translate immediately into political spectacle. When I first moved to Britain, I noticed a very peculiar phenomenon: the British seemed to like their leaders – especially their Prime Minister – to appear in one of two ways. Either the leader should be a servile, butlerish ‘mate’ – a Jeeves offering to shine your shoes. Or the leader should take every opportunity possible to make a fool out of themselves in public.
The former seemed confined to the liberal-left, Labour and Lib Dems. It was best epitomized in the figure of Anthony ‘Tony’ Blair and barely needs to be commented on; it is the republican ideal pushed to reducto ad absurdum. The latter is much more interesting, especially to conservatives. It is a post-Blair invention that has deeply infected the Tories. John Major would never have purposely made a fool of himself in public for the purpose of political spectacle – much less Margaret Thatcher.
A recent example was that of Boris Johnson – who genuinely seems to derive deep enjoyment from playing this character – cleaning a chair in a school hall. But one might also recall Theresa May dancing across a stage or Matt Hancock awkwardly eating a waffle.
These events are incredibly common in modern Britain and almost seem part of the political furniture. They are not gaffes, however. American politicians have gaffes – lots of them. Our current President and our previous are and were notorious. But gaffes in American politics are not stage-managed. They are not intentional. Encouraging a leader in American politics to ritually debase themselves would never pass muster. It would be seen as degrading and an attack on the dignity of the country and its institutions. The chair cleaning, the dancing, the awkward waffle – all of these are clearly pre-planned.
Why? No really, why? Why would a Tory Party operative tell Boris to clean the chair or May to dance across the stage? When I first started observing this phenomenon, I thought that this must be what the British public want. Strange as it may seem, I thought, the British voter must enjoy seeing their leaders – the people who represent their country – debase themselves in public. Given that leaders are supposed to represent the public, this dynamic seemed utterly perverse.
When I asked people involved in conservative politics this is also how they thought about it. They would vaguely refer to focus groups and the need to ‘connect’ with ‘the people’. But the more I thought about it, the less I believed it. Does any serious person think that these spectacles move the polls one iota? Of course not. There is quite literally no evidence of that. America invented the politician who ‘connects’ with ‘the people’ – but this manifests as JFK kissing a baby or Obama having a burger and fries, not as Reagan cleaning a toilet or Biden taking out the trash. The British used to understand this, and nothing shocks me about Harold Wilson swapping his cigar for a pipe to appeal to the common man.
Considering all this, I began to think that the British elite were using focus groups and other supposedly ‘sophisticated’ political tools as a mechanism of projection. They were attributing to the public their own desires. This is like when a social conservative argues against something immoral – say, pornography – and then, realizing that they are not making progress, they start referring to an ‘innocent other’ that must be protected – say, the children.
Likewise, the British elite are merely projecting their own desire to see their leaders – and ultimately, themselves – ritually humiliated onto the public. In fact, the public are largely indifferent. These spectacles are a ritual by the British elite for the British elite. They form a core part of their identity.
Some genuine conservatives assured me that this is just part of the culture. They pointed out that in constitutional monarchies, the egos of the politicians are kept in check. I understand this all too well and it certainly explains, for example, why the British public was put off by Mosley while the Italians embraced Mussolini. But it does not explain this tendency toward self-debasement. If it did, then where are the clips of Anthony Eden dancing on stage?
If I am correct, what are we to make of this? Anyone with even a cursory interest in psychology would obviously point to a core of self-loathing here. Ritually humiliating oneself in public clearly signals that. But I fear that such an analysis might be too shallow, at least if taken literally.
In reality, many of the people who create these spectacles and those who partake in them are no more and no less ‘off’ than those working in and around politics in any other countries. Rituals are like that. It is not so much that they reflect on the psyche of the individual partaking in them as much as they reflect on the character of the society as a whole. The most peaceful person in a violent tribe will still partake in the tribe’s violent rituals and consequently those rituals reflect on the tribe more so than on any individual.
At base, these strange rituals seem to signal that the British elite does not know how to portray itself. It is unrooted and unmoored. It wants to do away with what it thinks to be its ‘stuffy’ past. But that is impossible and so it gives rise to these rituals. The rituals themselves seem to be a sort of repetitive act, an attempt to destroy that undestroyable past.
British high society subconsciously seems to think that if they continue to degrade and debase themselves in public enough, eventually a New Man will emerge as if by magic. The ‘stuffy’ past will fade into the night and a new Cool Britannia will emerge in a flash of light. But that is not going to happen. The past has already happened. It cannot be destroyed. Therefore, the British elite will continue in this cycle from now until they reconnect with this past. Over and over again, the political operatives will instruct the leaders to dance like chimps and over an over again they will do it, thereby acting out this desperate attempt to purify themselves of their history and their character.
I know how British people will respond to this. They will deflect and dredge up some of the worst aspects of my own culture. They can do that if they please. I know it all already. But I maintain that, at a very deep levels, Americans still respect their core institutions – dysfunctional and perhaps even as suicidal as these might be. The British do not, and that is a serious problem.
In anticipation of this, let me give you rope with which to hang me and say, in the most American way I possible can: just be yourselves guys, do not be ashamed of who you are.
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