Robert Jenrick’s suggestion that former colonies ‘owe a debt of gratitude’ to the British empire is one of the more robust responses to reparations debate
Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick: “I’m not ashamed of our history”, he wrote in the Daily Mail. “Many of our former colonies – amid the complex realities of empire – owe us a debt of gratitude for the inheritance we left them.” Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire
The growing fashion to see the world in postcolonial terms has proved irresistible to a certain kind of Irish exceptionalism. Reparations add the prospect of cash to the moral superiority of victimhood. This is destined to be a popular mode of political thought. This view fires republicans up with resentment and antagonises unionists with an attack on their country. It is hardly conducive to reconciliation but it is great for venting an ancient grudge, which often seems to be the point. The worst damage postcolonial rhetoric does to Northern Ireland is to chip away at the foundations of the peace process.
Watching all this with clear exasperation are the people of Britain, upon whom any bills would fall. There appears to be some public willingness to consider modest reparation proposals, such as apologies and better-focused development funding. But there is also incredulity at the vast sums some are demanding and suspicion over the British government’s urbane waffling around the issue at last week’s Commonwealth summit.
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