It’s a potential revolutionary moment but not as Brexiteers planned – Kenny MacAskill

The pillars of the British state are rocking. Old institutions and former certainties are beleaguered and it’s in danger of fragmenting. ­Rabid calls by Brexiteers, amongst ­others, for the Dunkirk spirit to be ­displayed simply show how desperate they’ve become.

Leaving aside the heroism displayed there by thousands, whether military or civilian, the reality was a disaster that saw tens of thousands dead and others left to face imprisonment for the war’s duration. It wasn’t the start of good times but the prelude to privation and bombing, and it also forgets how close Britain came to surrendering.

The country survived but the dismantling of the empire began when the conflict was over. It was the price of victory, as well as a recognition of a new world order in which Britain had slipped down the rankings.

That, though, was a war that had to be fought to see off fascism. This isn’t a war whatever bellicose language is used but a political decision of quite incredible self-harm. But its ramifications are severe and the reverberations might well bring both the pillars and the state crashing down.

British troops look back at the French coast from the deck of a steamer taking them back to England after the evacuation of Dunkirk. Rabid Brexiteers are fond of evoking the Dunkirk spirit. Picture: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Of course, the United Kingdom hasn’t been inviolate since 1707. As the historian Norman Davies has argued the creation of the Irish Free State came at the price of the dismantling of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland. Now the remnants of that order in Northern Ireland and Scotland, perhaps even Wales are threatened.

Institutions of state come and go but some remain fundamental. With the United Kingdom Crown, Parliament, Church and Military all spring to mind. But all are pale shadows of the former prestige that once radiated from them. Despite the bravado of Brexiteer politicians the age of empire is over.

Britain had 100,000 soldiers in Ireland alone during the war of independence. Now the army doesn’t have anything like that number even worldwide. Pouring so much money into Trident missiles means that even the ones they possess are ill equipped and the navy’s flagship aircraft carrier has no planes. Hardly their finest hour.

In our secular society the national churches have become largely symbolic and their role greatly reduced. The displays of the empire’s victories adorning cathedral walls both sides of the border are from a time when those buildings were packed. Now many lie empty and new beliefs have arrived. Faith may still have a place in society but it’s no longer a pillar of state despite the lingering absurdity of the protestant ascendancy.