Glorious isolation appears to be the destination for wannabe bully ‘Global Britain’

Soon after the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016 a campaign began to mint a special commemorative coin to celebrate the occasion, divisive as it was. After much foot-dragging, the then chancellor of the exchequer, Philip Hammond, acceded to the request, and a 50p coin was struck with the (arguably ungrammatical) legend “Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations”. It hasn’t worked out quite like that.

Maybe this isn’t quite what the government means by “Global Britain” either, but Priti Patel’s new tit-for-tat approach to deportations risks making enemies of yet more countries that previously enjoyed cordial relations with the UK. Whether it makes much sense in terms of criminal justice, or in crude domestic party politics, the home secretary’s latest initiative isn’t going to win hearts, minds, diplomatic support and trade deals across the world. She wants to impose total and complete Trump-style bans on people from countries seeking entry to the UK from nations where the governments won’t do as she tells them and accept anyone she cares to send their way. It is difficult to comprehend a situation where, say, all Albanian, Indian or Jamaican citizens wishing to enter the UK are refused entry at Heathrow because their respective governments have refused entry to some random individual who hasn’t set foot in those countries since they were a toddler.

One of the odder aspects of Ms Patel’s policy of deporting sometimes vicious and dangerous criminals to their supposed countries of origin is that neither the criminals nor the receiving “host” nations think of their destination as home. Some have never visited these places since they were children, and the countries have no interest in accepting them. Hence the diplomatic difficulties Ms Patel has encountered in pursuing her policy, and her decision to try and pile the pressure on countries to accept people they regard as Britain’s problem. She has also, rightly, had individual delegations challenged on legal grounds in the UK, too often successfully for her liking. Whether she likes it or not, Ms Patel has had to accept that even those who have committed heinous criminal acts are entitled to due process and the exercise of their human rights, under the law. Ms Patel is also attempting to constrain judicial review in such cases. If anything this will make her diplomatic problems even worse, if it means she can bundle even more prisoners or ex-prisoners onto flights.

The consequences of such an arbitrary, draconian and hostile approach are easy to predict. Britain – Global Britain – gives the impression of going round the world picking fights with virtually anyone. Such is the rush of post-Brexit excitement from the powerful drug sovereignty that the UK appears to have suffered an overdose, and grown dangerously aggressive, often against much larger powers: Russia, China, the European Union, and now anyone from the rest of the world.

Britain has regained its sovereignty, but is losing a great deal of the formal and informal power and influence it once enjoyed throughout the world. Even those countries where old alliances seem to be being strengthened, such as America and Australia, there has still been friction, or a price to pay. President Biden views British intentions towards Ireland with deep suspicion and has made unfavourable comparisons between Johnson and Donald Trump. Australia, another member of the supposedly emerging “Anglosphere”, has made it abundantly clear that it’s not going to compromise on climate change in return for a trade deal with Britain. That is hardly humiliating – Australia is a sovereign state, after all – but it demonstrates just how limited British clout is even in the Commonwealth since the long-gone days of empire.

Glorious isolation, then, seems the face British sets to the rest of the world, a country careless of its friends and alliances, and deluded about its real economic power and global reach. Even if the British could bully superpowers or tiny island states it would be counterproductive, but it hasn’t the strength to do either these days, and in the new post-Brexit world it needs friends more than ever.