Britannia Unchained

Summary

An article written by four of the authors for the ConservativeHome website and published on the day of the book's publication said: "We are convinced that Britain's best days are not behind us. We cannot afford to listen to the siren voices of the statists who are happy for Britain to become a second rate power in Europe, and a third rate power in the world. Decline is not inevitable".

The book asserts that the UK has a "bloated state, high taxes and excessive regulation". It then says:

It says the UK should "stop indulging in irrelevant debates about sharing the pie between manufacturing and services, the north and the south, women and men".

The content suggests that Britain has policy lessons to learn from a number of other countries which it claims are outperforming the United Kingdom and sets out the areas where the United Kingdom needs to rethink its strategy, citing examples of countries which the authors believe have been successful in these areas. On deficit reduction, the example of Canada during the 1990s is given, where overall spending was reduced by 20% between 1992 and 1997. On education, the authors lament the relatively low number of students who study mathematics at A-Level which they say is 15%, contrasting it with Japan where 85% study the subject at a similar level. In the realm of business and economics, Israel is cited as an example of a country that supports innovation while the United States is given as an example of a nation that supports risk-taking. The willingness of Britain's employees to work hard is compared to that of workers of other countries, with suggestions that a decreasing number of Britain's workers are contributing towards economic growth through which state spending is enabled to be maintained. It is asserted that this undermines the United Kingdom's competitiveness.

Reception

The book caused controversy in August 2012 after a short quotation appeared in London's Evening Standard which accused British workers of laziness and lagging behind their Asian counterparts. The Labour Party urged British Prime Minister and Conservative leader David Cameron to distance himself from the views and the Shadow Secretary of State for Business Chuka Umunna commented: "First they blame British businesses for their economic failures and now they blame the people who work within them, showing how out of touch the Tory party has become".

Writing for the New Statesman, Jonathan Portes criticised the accuracy of the content, saying the book contained "factual errors" and evidence of "slipshod research" by the authors:

The book received renewed attention under the Johnson government, which had all five co-authors as ministers and three of them occupying two of the Great Offices of State. Several writers argued that the book was indicative of Boris Johnson's objectives for Brexit and wider reforms.

The book received even greater attention following the appointment of Truss as Prime Minister and Kwarteng as Chancellor and the financial crisis triggered following the Truss government's September 2022 United Kingdom mini-budget. Kwarteng was dismissed as Chancellor by Truss on 14 October after only 38 days in the position. Truss resigned as prime minister only a few days later, making her resignation announcement on 20 October; her last day in office was 25 October.

References

References

1. Eaton, George. (24 July 2019). "''Britannia Unchained'': the free-market book that defines Boris Johnson's new cabinet". [[New Statesman]].
2. (14 October 2022). "Liz Truss sacks Kwasi Kwarteng before corporation tax U-turn". [[The Guardian]].
3. Taylor, Adam. (29 September 2022). "Kwasi Kwarteng and the ideology behind the British pound's collapse". [[The Washington Post]].
4. Dettmer, Jamie. (29 September 2022). "Britain can't buck the markets". [[Politico Europe]].
5. (13 September 2012). "Britain's best days are not behind us Comment". Conservative and Unionist Party of the United Kingdom.
6. McDermott, John. (9 September 2012). "Britannia Unchained". Financial Times.
7. (18 August 2012). "British workers 'among worst idlers', suggest Tory MPs". BBC.
8. Ramesh, Randeep. (17 August 2012). "Tory young bloods say Britons are idlers who need to emulate Asia". The Guardian.
9. Beckett, Andy. (22 August 2012). "Britannia Unchained: the rise of the new Tory right". The Guardian.
10. Portes, Jonathan. (13 September 2012). ""Factual errors" and "slipshod research" – the Britannia Unchained Tories must try harder". New Statesman.
11. Harris, John. (7 July 2019). "Want to know what a Boris Johnson government would look like? I have just the book". The Guardian.