Like a spectral invigilator, George Orwell is never far from our political discourse. Yesterday, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer dramatised respectively the sharp distinction he drew in a famous 1945 essay between nationalism and patriotism. The Prime Minister, for his part, finally ensured that his Rwanda bill will become law, after a lengthy “ping pong” between the Commons and Lords ended late last night. At a press conference earlier in the day, he insisted that deportation flights would begin in 10 to 12 weeks, “no ifs, no buts”.
Yet to what end? The policy that has become Sunak’s defining fixation and electoral offer to the Conservative base exemplifies what Orwell called the nationalist “power hunger tempered by self-deception”.
