Cack-Handed Trump Puts Britain on the Spot

What are we to say when the leaders of three of the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom — Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (England has no formal voice, per se) — meet at Cardiff to sign an agreement that each has the right, in principle, to seek independence from the United Kingdom?According to Scotland’s Herald, the First Ministers “have called on the UK Government to ‘prepare for, plan and facilitate constitutional change in each jurisdiction,’ warning that no Westminster administration has the right to ‘block democracy.’”At the outset, such a declaration may seem fairly anodyne. As it is, Articles 1 and 55 of the United Nations Charter, of which the United Kingdom is a signatory, enshrines “respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.” Therefore the Cardiff declaration can be seen as nothing more than a reassertion of the principle of self-determination first set forth in 1945.Yet circumstances, as Edmund Burke declared, “give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing color and discriminating effect. The circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or noxious to mankind.”Sir Joshua Reynolds’s portrait of Edmund Burke, 1774, detail. Scottish National Galleries via Wikimedia CommonsThese circumstances are noxious indeed. They come on the heels of the British prime minister, Andy Burnham, having to extricate himself from an own-goal by unnecessarily commenting on the likelihood of another independence referendum in Scotland. Adding further fuel to renewed interest in UK secession was President Trump’s assertion that it was inevitable that the two Irelands would be reunited, so why not do so under his watch? No one was surprised at the cack-handedness of the presidential remarks. Nor can anyone doubt that stumbling into the question of Irish unification has stirred up images of “the Troubles” no one wishes to revisit.Politicians, however, with an opportunity to aggrandize their powers, acted on the words of G.W. Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: “They just seen their opportunities and took them.” Taoiseach Micheal Martin and President Trump attend a bilateral meeting at Farmleigh House on September 12, 2026 at Dublin, Ireland. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesSo the first ministers of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland smiled for the spotlight and the chance to embarrass Westminster. What their constituents think, let alone the question of addressing the pressing issues of the day —immigration, inflation, and general civilizational implosion — be damned.At time of filing, only Restore Britain had addressed this issue on its Instagram account, but one may fairly assume the party’s “pro-Union” stance speaks equally for the other parties of the right, Conservatives and Reform UK.“The United Kingdom is not an administrative arrangement from which its constituent parts should walk away when it suits the political ambitions of failed politicians,” the statement reads. “Together we built institutions, defended our islands, fought and sacrificed alongside one another, traded together and became one of the most successful nations in history,” the party’s notice continues.Then, to the crux of the matter. “The answer to decades of political failure at Westminster and within the devolved administrations is not to break Britain into ever smaller pieces.”Prime Minister Andy Burnham on August 24, 2026 at Kyiv, Ukraine. Diego Fedele/Getty ImagesFurthermore, “We reject any attempt by politicians to engineer its dissolution for their own egotistical purposes, and will oppose any transfer of further powers designed to facilitate the break-up of our country.”While the United Kingdom’s constituent regions are “stronger, safer and more prosperous together than they would be apart. . . the Union is about considerably more than economics.” Now Restore’s Burkean bona fides come to the fore: “It is about the inheritance we received from those who came before us and our responsibility to preserve it for the generations who will follow.”“The task before us is not to dismantle Britain,” but “to restore the confidence, optimism, prosperity, security and national pride that made our United Kingdom great.”Restore Britain’s leader, Rupert Lowe, later posted that “I am announcing our policy of rolling back devolution. We will restore democratic accountability and strengthen the Union. Whilst ensuring a fair say for the Scottish, the Welsh, the Northern Irish — and yes, the English.”In keeping with Restore’s aim of a top-down examination of what ails the UK, strengthening the Union will be a priority, as “a full policy paper setting out how we would do this is being developed. It will be bold and radical, exactly what is required to respect and represent the different parts of our family whilst resisting efforts to disintegrate what we have built together.”Restore Britain, like all good “based” and conservative movements, has learned the lesson of John Dickinson that “a state, to be long lived, must be frequently corrected, and reduced to its first principles.”The party isn’t afraid, either, to address the other elephant in the room in respect of the United Kingdom — the other being the looming threat of re-entry to the European Union — that of England. Albion accounts for 84 percent of Great Britain’s population and 86 percent of its GDP per capita. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are dwarfed in comparison.So the first ministers might rue the day they pressed for regional independence from the United Kingdom (and incidentally, not from the European Union in 2016 — excepting England and Wales being for Brexit).The English may rise up themselves, tired of these incessant constitutional squabbles, and welcome their own deliverance, to be once more “this blessèd plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”BrexitDiarist@gmail.com

Cack-Handed Trump Puts Britain on the Spot

Cack-Handed Trump Puts Britain on the Spot

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