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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Rafael Behr

How Brexit Britain went awol in the struggle to defend liberal democracy

Boris Johnson and Donald Trump at a Nato leaders meeting in Watford, England, in 2019.
‘American democracy had a near-death experience with Trump, and the Conservative party was fellow-travelling with the assassin.’ Boris Johnson and Donald Trump at a Nato leaders meeting in 2019. Photograph: Francisco Seco/AP

It should not be remarkable for a British prime minister to have friendly relations with the president of France. It is a measure of how low the bar is set that the newsworthy feature of last week’s cordial encounter between Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron was that it happened at all.

They smiled, embraced, and exchanged cooperative platitudes. Post-Brexit, such professional banality is rare enough to be reassuring.

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