Empire Line

Peter Hitchens writes:

The Prime Minister was right when he pointed out that most of the major crises in the world have their roots in the British Empire. It’s unquestionably true. Afghanistan’s stupid border? Our fault. The endless Indo-Pakistan tension? Our fault. The mess in the Middle East? Our fault. The destruction of democracy in Iran? Our fault.

I am myself a child of Empire, born in what was then Malta GC when the mighty Mediterranean Fleet still filled the Grand Harbour at Valletta. And, having seen one or two other empires in action, I still say ours was the best. What’s more, it seems to me that in this cruel world you either have an empire or become part of somebody else’s, and I know which I prefer.

The problems I list above were mostly not caused by the Empire itself. They followed its sudden, rapid collapse after the disastrous surrender of Singapore in 1942, one of the worst of the many failures and retreats that took place under the over-praised leadership of Winston Churchill. People keep saying that we made a good job of withdrawing from Empire. It’s just not true. The scuttles from India and Palestine were needlessly bloody and crude. They left grave, unsolved problems.

If you take over someone else’s country, you have to stay there for good, and commit yourself absolutely. The current fashion for leasehold colonialism, where you barge in with bombs and soldiers and then clear off, is guaranteed to cause more difficulties than it solves. That said, I have never seen such an adventure crumble into chaos and failure as quickly as Mr Cameron’s ill-considered Libyan affair. Bombing our own side? Well, I never. But how on earth do we get out now we’re in? So much for the brilliance of Etonians, eh?