What Johnson doesn’t say about Churchill

Recently I made a passing reference to the Cabinet of United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson being something of which Oswald Mosley would be proud, hyperbole perhaps, but I was seeking to make a point.

However, what surprised me was the number of people who had never heard, or had only a vague idea, of who I was referring to.

For those who understood my reference to the pre-war leader of the British Union of Fascists, there were others who thought I must be referencing some obscure Parliamentary backbencher or perhaps a member of a current activist group.

Once again I have to remind myself that in the technologically-driven 21^st century the study of history has been downgraded to the point where it has almost disappeared from school curriculums.

As I have said many times before, this is an extremely dangerous development, especially in the increasingly perilous times in which we live.

An example of this is the way no-one has picked up Johnson on his oft-quoted admiration for the UK’s wartime leader, Winston Churchill.

Over the years he has referenced Churchill many times, usually in respect to the bulldog spirit of 1940 when the nation tottered on the brink of defeat.

What he fails to mention, however, is that his hero was a convinced and dedicated European who in those dark days was ready to offer France union in order to keep it in the war and who afterwards, as Leader of the Opposition, advocated a “United States of Europe” as a way of ensuring the continent was never again plunged into war.

On September 19 1946, a full decade before the Treaty of Rome founded what later became the EU, Churchill delivered an address to the University of Zurich in which he said that European conflicts had “wrecked the peace and marred the prospects of all mankind”.  

He urged that the fabric of Europe be recreated with a structure under which all could dwell in peace, safety and freedom.

“We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers regain the simple joys and hopes that make life worth living,” Churchill declared.  

As I have said, this was well before the nascent six-nation European Community came into effect. The only contemporary example that could have been in Churchill’s mind was the United States — a federal system far beyond what exists in the EU today.

It is also worth noting that Churchill’s hopes of Europeans living in peace, safety and freedom have been fulfilled by the EU – in the more than 60 years of its existence, no war has been fought between the nations within its borders.

There is little doubt that leaders with a different world view seek to do the EU damage. US President Donald Trump sees it as an economic competitor and cheers on Brexit as a way of weakening it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intervention in Syria may well have been with the intention of propping up fellow dictator Bashar al-Assad, but a welcome side effect for Moscow has been the millions of Syrian refugees flooding into Europe, straining the fabric of the continent and re-awakening nationalist sentiments.  

In his speech Churchill’s refers to the Defunct League of Nations which he said failed because its principles were deserted by those States which brought it into being — “because the Governments of those States feared to face the facts and act while time remained.

“This disaster must not be repeated”.

Yet this is exactly what is happening, with a UK Government now firmly in the hands of opportunists and fanatics who place their reputations above the needs of the community; their party loyalties above the future of their country.

No-one in the new Cabinet really cares about what might happen after October 31. The advice of experts is derided; the lessons of the past ignored.

It is getting late for men and women of vision and principle to stand up against the Brexit juggernaut, but there is still time. History will thank them for it.