1/ The leftist critique of empire, namely that it was a thoroughly bad thing, misses the target. To hit the political right we need to point out that the empire failed, that it collapsed, that its defeat was total and humiliating.
2/ The humiliation and pain of loss of empire was hidden under the lie that it was a graceful withdrawal. And the failure to psychologically process that crushing defeat means that England cannot shake off the dead skin of imperialism, and move on to a realistic new identity.
3/ England as a nation spent around 250 years subsumed in Britain and Empire. It re-emerged angry and empty as a result of rejection and defeat. Its very existence is defined by a loss and humiliation that its partisans can accept physically but not emotionally.
Some folk are saying WW2 finished the empire. I'd say that it merely hastened it. It was only because the UK had already lost its economic predominance that it could not take advantage of victory as it had done in 1815. Britain had been in relative economic decline since 1850.
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