Once again a battle-scarred Britain must find a new role in the world
by Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor from on (#536PD)
We celebrate VE Day with the need to forge new trading relationships and with the grotesque economic burden of the coronavirus
In making his landmark post-Brexit speech in February under Sir James Thornhill's baroque painted ceiling in the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, Boris Johnson believed he had found the perfect setting to paint his own picture of Britain charting a new course as a free-trading, independent, open and liberal nation.
Like the painting above him, eulogising the triumph of William and Mary over the popish and tyrannical French, Johnson's speech was an optimistic and patriotic piece of work. It offered a distinctive vision of British prosperity and diplomatic superiority.
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