There is no bank holiday on April 23rd to celebrate England’s dragon-slaying patron saint. Traditions are few. A politician may post a message against a backdrop of an England flag, but the day otherwise passes with no fanfare
Open a book, read a broadsheet newspaper or head to an academic conference, however, and England is everywhere. Britain is experiencing “a reawakening of English national consciousness”, argued Jason Cowley in “Who Are We Now: Stories of Modern England”. Englishness is “the motor force behind” ructions in recent British politics, say Alisa Henderson and Richard Wyn Jones, a pair of academics. Another author warns Britain “cannot survive English nationalism”. This is a genre fond of quoting G.K.
Chroniclers of English nationalism leapt on the 2011 census, which showed that a whopping 58% of residents in England identified as English only. Skip forward a decade and this number plunged to 15%. What caused this shift? A botched survey. In 2011 “English” was the first option and “British” was the fifth; in 2021 “Britain” came top of the list. If the patriotism of Englishmen does not extend to the lower box of a census form, it may not run deep.
England whispers during national elections. The general election of 2015, when the Conservative Party wrapped itself in an England flag, is portrayed as a breakthrough for English nationalism. Adverts showing Ed Miliband, the then Labour leader, in hock to Scottish nationalists were everywhere. But Labour increased both its vote share and the number of seats in England that election. It was collapse in Scotland that broke the party.
An obsession with the wants of English voters is understandable. At the last few elections, a minority of flag-waving, Leave-voting, stoutly English voters proved a significant group in some seats. Leaving theupturned half a century of British policy, so delving into the motivations of Brexit’s biggest fans made sense. But the British voter is large. He contains multitudes.In truth, Englishness has a weak hold on Britain. This is no surprise when the concept is so poorly defined.
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