Patriotism is an elastic word. For some, it is flying the flag at every opportunity; for others, it is volunteering in local communities, paying taxes without fuss, or celebrating British quirks and imperfections. But at its core, patriotism surely has to involve one basic thing: a love of one’s country. And yet, the UK’s far-right appears more ashamed of Britain than anyone else.
Spend just a few minutes scrolling through the timelines of self-styled patriots and you’ll find a torrent of bile aimed at Britain itself. They decry the “woke” police, sneer at judges, vilify the BBC, and rage against the very institutions that have long underpinned our democracy. One viral post summed it up neatly:
“Just checking….Are we absolutely certain that the British patriots are the people who hate British cities, British law, British judges, British democracy, the British civil service, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and large swathes of the British people?”
The irony runs deeper. Those most aggrieved by the state of Britain are increasingly voting with their feet – leaving the country they claim to love for sunnier climes. Many are decamping to Benidorm, of all places, citing their escape from “too many foreigners” in the UK. Quite what they make of being the very foreigners in Spain is anyone’s guess.
Then there is Dubai – the glittering Gulf emirate that has become a favoured destination for Britain’s far-right commentators. It takes a particular strain of cognitive dissonance to rail against Islam at every turn while choosing to reside in an Islamic autocracy. Isabel Oakeshott, for example, has made a career out of denouncing multiculturalism and attacking Islam while enjoying the luxuries of Dubai life. Her partner, Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform, now divides his time between his constituency in Skegness and the same Islamist state his party rails against.
It leaves British satire in a bind. What do you do when the supposed defenders of national pride are the loudest voices talking Britain down? When those who rage most against immigration are emigrating themselves? When critics of Islam seek shelter in Islamic states? The far-right, in its contradictions and hypocrisies, has managed what satirists once considered impossible: parodying itself, effortlessly.