Will the British make Great Britain great again?

The brand power of Britain's physical and cultural empire will be vital as it charts its new path in a post-Brexit future.

 By Koh Buck Song

The Business Times, Singapore

Sat, Feb 08, 2020

OBSERVING Britain's Brexit process over the last four years, I was often struck by one particular aspect - the widespread expressions of bafflement over why anyone would vote Leave.

In The Guardian newspaper last week, Gary Lineker, BBC presenter and former national footballer, said of Brexit: "I find it difficult to comprehend."

A visiting Cambridge University professor suggested to me last year, with typical British understatement: "You must find what's happening amusing."

Now that Britain has officially left the European Union, Britons are coming to accept the new reality. But clearly, many people still find it hard to grasp the psyche of the "Brexiteers".

This is a question I had been mulling over too, especially last year during Singapore's bicentennial year of reflection on two centuries as a once-and-former British colony.

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One reality that struck me was the gap in "national self-confidence" between the inferiority complex of citizens of former colonies, whose ancestors grew up under subordination to colonial masters, and the superiority complex of citizens of imperial powers that had always had dominion over other territories.

Thinking about Singapore's bicentennial made me appreciate, more than ever, the full extent of the British empire on which the sun never set. For most of my life, I believed the half-truth that dusk had fallen on most of British colonialism, when, in fact, its legacy still rules the world.

Queen Elizabeth II is head of state of the United Kingdom and also 15 other territories, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Also, there are 14 British Overseas Territories that have not been granted independence or have voted, more than willingly, to remain British territories, including Bermuda and Gibraltar. Another three Crown dependencies include the Isle of Man.

This is why it is not quite right for Jonathan Powell, chief of staff to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to say this week in The New York Times: "Britain is going to have to come to terms with being a small country."

What surprised me about Brexit discussions since 2016 was how they were always framed in hard power terms, with hardly anyone citing Britain's very large, centuries-old global empire that also has global soft power leadership.

Analysing British's place in the world through the lens of country branding has offered further insights, reinforced by first-hand observations such as on my recent travels through Antarctica and the Falkland Islands, the furthest reaches of the British empire to the south.

The Union Jack flutters prominently at the British base of Port Lockroy in Antarctica. Abandoned as a military and research station in 1962, it was renovated in 1996 into a heritage museum and the world's most southerly post office. The fridge magnets and other merchandise that its shop sells are highly effective vehicles of nation branding, more so than the less extensive souvenirs at a Chilean Antarctic base that I also visited.

Nation branding was also active in full force on the Falkland Islands, which Britain claimed in 1766, proclaimed a Crown colony in 1840, and has fought off France and Argentina to retain till today.

The islands, with sheep farms and rolling meadows, look like Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland recreated on the opposite hemisphere, where visitors can pop by at farmhouses for cream tea and biscuits.

On top of its "political empire", Britain also has a global cultural empire, probably the world's most powerful, with the English language as the pre-eminent medium of promotion.

Brand Britain has brand ambassadors that enjoy universal top-of-mind recall, from James Bond to the English Premier League to Dyson vacuum cleaners. The brand is so resilient that it can more than overcome any disruption, even "Megxit", the "departure" of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan from the Royal family.

In online research this week, for the first time, I paid attention to the flag of the Spanish empire, which still wields influence across Latin America. In contrast, the Union Jack has a much higher visibility, appearing on everything from fashion apparel to high art, with strong brand affinity everywhere, even in nationalistic foreign countries like China.

Britain's ubiquitous, longstanding empire brand essence was probably always in the minds, if only subconsciously, of those Britons yearning to "take back control" away from the influence of Brussels or any other foreign entity.

Why would citizens of the most successful global empire ever not wish to savour, once again, the fullest liberation to wield power and influence not only at home, but all across the globe?

No doubt, there is nitty-gritty to sort out with the EU, and some losses there. But a new world of bilateral deals and many other possibilities has just opened up.

Britain's empire brand equity will be a vital factor in securing and boosting its future post-Brexit.

• Koh Buck Song is a country brand advisor, and author and editor of more than 30 books including Brand Singapore.