A meander around the constitutional crossroads

Danger on the road for the UK

IT WAS with the cliché ‘never judge a book by its cover’ uppermost in my mind that I approached Patrick Hannan’s A Useful Fiction. Its cover, dominated by a British flag with no meaning or connection to me as a Welsh woman, would usually put me off. In this instance I battled on, understanding that it was set to challenge what it means to be ‘British’ in the age of devolution with the growth of the EU and global powers, and whether or not some form of British identity can be sustained in an increasingly diverse society, and in the midst of ever- changing political structures.

Hannan subtitles his work as an ‘adventure’ in British democracy, but it is perhaps better thought of as his own personal tour of the foundations of Britain, assessing whether they are relevant to us today and how they continue to shape what we and others perceive as British. This tour includes the Royal family, the BBC/media, Westminster, the devolved administrations, while touching on issues like sport, culture and class. It is a meander also prone to changing course mid- flow. While Peter Hain is relevant to the discussion in terms of his role as Secretary of State for Wales, there is a whole chapter dedicated to him: discussing his move from South Africa, and the fact that he is an outsider in Britain. He cannot be ‘instantly identified within the class system that still colours social attitudes in Britain’ claims the author, and Hain goes as far as to say that everything is defined by class in Britain, while this is not so in South Africa. Make of that what you will! This may be interesting, but its connection to the issue of British identity appears tenuous. Perhaps the subsequent discussion of Mr Hain’s expenses saga is intended to underline the author’s claim, made while discussing the cash for honours scandal, that ‘it reinforced the idea that everyone in British public life is dishonest in some way.’

As a Welsh Republican I was heartened that the author initially described the Royal Family as ‘a bulwark of discrimination and privilege set against the modern World’. Nonetheless, as his analysis progresses he concentrates on the role of Prince Charles, and claims that he is the embodiment of what it is to be British: a ‘rebel in the opposite sense of the word’ who seeks to put the world back to how it once was by campaigning on issues like GM crops or against modern architecture. This is a very British trait according to the author. He claims that the monarchy represents ‘institutionalised unfairness,’ but that in a typically British fashion, politicians ‘prefer to look away’ rather than question it, acknowledging that ‘some people are officially more British than others’.

Hannan seeks to assess whether the Royal family can represent a modern Britain, but his conclusion that the Queen supports devolution because she has ‘made a point of opening new sessions of the Scottish and Welsh Assembly’ is bound to cause some raised eyebrows. Surely this is her current constitutional role, and is a weak argument for the relevance of the Royal family to the devolved nations? Why not question why she is performing such duties, and why such outdated traditions are becoming part of the evolution of devolution? Is this an attempt to maintain Britishness by stealth, against the will of the Welsh and Scottish peoples?

As an elected politician to the National Assembly for Wales, one can imagine my interest in the author’s discussion on the devolved administrations. The author states that politicians such as Blair believed that devolution would be ‘the salvation of the UK’. Yet, has this materialised given the rise in Nationalist forces in the devolved nations? Patrick Hannan states that the power of the Nationalists have been normalised given that Plaid Cymru are in power in Wales, Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, and the SNP in Scotland. He hints at the different directions in policy in the devolved Nations, and questions whether this represents a move away, both from what it is to be British, and from centrist policies. So it is odd that example used for this divergence in policy is the student fees agenda. While the book claims that ‘both Scotland and Wales…found money to reduce the levels of fees paid by University students, another policy rooted in an old Labour principle’ the fact is that with Labour were forced kicking and screaming to adopt such a policy by the opposition parties. In my opinion this was devolution at its best, but not for the reasons outlined by Hannan. It was devolution working against the tide of British Unionist policies of introducing market forces in to the education system, and a move away from Wales’s association with Britain.

The author describes how being British is a ‘secondary identity’ to the Scots with the SNP’s push for independence, but questions whether their arguments will prevail in a period of economic crisis. Will the Scots revert to the comfort blanket of Britain and its institutional security during such calamitous economic times? What is clear is that if a decision is made to go it alone, it will have very stark and ‘profound’ effects on the whole idea of Britishness, says Hannan. He states that devolution is different within the devolved nations, and that ‘they have separate histories’. He does not seek to give a definitive answer as to what will happen in the future, but suggests that despite the weakness of the media in Wales, and the sustainability of British institutions, devolution can thrive and prosper, with people making a ‘break with old allegiances of place and class.’ The author then goes on to suggest that the rise in Nationalism could lead to a new found sense of identity within England, despite the decision by people in the North East of England not to establish a regional Assembly. Cameron could be, according to Ian Jack from the Independent, ‘the last Prime Minister of Great Britain…and the first Prime Minister of England’. What does this mean for Britain and its future?

Ultimately, the author touches upon the concept of identity in Northern Ireland, the experience of the Republic as an Independent nation, with Europe ‘blurring distinctions of Irishness and Britishness’. Nonetheless, I must admit that the author focuses on the nations where he is clearly the most comfortable and at ease in his analysis: namely Wales and Scotland. The discussion on the politics of Northern Ireland scratches the surface, with little reference to the tensions that still exist in the north of Ireland, or an attempt to compare Wales and Northern Ireland’s devolved administrations despite the clear similarities in their constitutional structures. What I simply could not agree with was the vague suggestion that the fight over borders and nationalities will come to an end in the north of Ireland in the near future, partly as a result of the appearance of consensus between Unionist and Republican politicians, when former members of the IRA killed a policeman in the north of Ireland recently, and were condemned by all mainstream political leaders. This debate is far from over.

A Useful Fiction is informative, yet it is clear that the author never intended to provide clear answers as to the meaning of Britishness. The title tells us that it is the author’s fictional story of Britishness, and we must read it as such. It encourages us to think about ourselves as individuals, and how we define Britishness. It did feel on occasions that there were gaps missing from his analysis of British identity: the role of the British Empire and war, the influence of external forces such as the USA, and his generalisation when describing the rise of Nationalism.

Yet the many strands of the book either confirm our sense of what it is to be British, or further reinforces our belief that it is a hotch potch of ideas and traditions that nobody can, or wants to clearly define for fear of insulting or misrepresenting others in our society, especially with the growth of immigration and global influences.

This book succeeded in making me question my identity and why I do not define myself as British. Yet the most important question is one that it cannot answer: whether devolution evolves to become entrenched within Britain, reinforcing British institutional influences or whether Britain itself becomes an outdated and irrelevant concept with the rise in individual identities and power structures across the Nations and regions of Britain. It is one that has yet to play itself out.

A Useful Fiction, by Patrick Hannan and published by Seren Books, is out now