Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

This blog was among the first to recognise the global significance of the Queen’s Ireland triumph. What has happened is simple. She has morphed from a ceremonial figurehead and tourist attraction into a political monarch of extraordinary authority. This does not mean she has become partisan, favouring one group above another which would breach the spirit of our constitution (not the letter because as it is unwritten, there are none). She has become involved in an issue, Anglo Irish reconciliation, which has not just defined her reign, but to millions who thought she was pointless or undemocratic, she has acquired meaning and with meaning comes power. The power to heal, to guide and to enable.

In his interview with Andrew Marr, the President said the Her Majesty represented  ‘all that was best about England’ and the ‘we were all very proud’ of her. That meant we the Americans. Such a thing has not been said since the American War of Independence. This is because the issue over which the Queen acquired her new aura was Ireland and so much of the worst about England is its historical treatment of the Irish. At the same time so much of America is derived from the suffering of the Irish people, including, we discover, the President himself.

So those words in Dublin had an echo and nowhere more resonant than across the Atlantic ocean. But there is more. For long I have promoted a more independent (of America) foreign policy for Britain and this, little by little and after some initial hesitations, is beginning to emerge under William Hague. His outspoken attitude over Israel and his exhortation to the U.S. to get a grip of its ally has clearly struck a chord, with both countries calling for the start of negotiations with the Palestinians to begin at the pre-1967 border.

A furious Israel calls on us all to face the reality. The response is, we do. The reality is that the annexation of Palestinian territory was, is and will remain, illegal under international law. Israel must begin by facing that reality. When it does it can call with moral authority for everyone else, including Hamas, to recognise it as a sovereign state with a right to exist. The border issue will then be solved with a certain amount of give and take, which will have to be based on common sense and the need to secure both states into the future.

Meanwhile, with its tougher and more independent foreign policy, the UK has not drawn closer to the US, but rather drawn the US closer to the UK. This will become more evident during the President’s visit. For the sea change in atmosphere that has made that possible, everyone must thank the Queen.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 23rd, 2011 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Malcolm Blair Robinson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.