Brexit backers in Britain tout their passport – which looks like a ticket to a fantasy world

Kevin Rafferty says the stories the Britain-first crowd tell about a return to their old blue passport reflect their delusions about reclaiming their old place in a world that has moved on

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A pro-EU anti-Brexit demonstrator rallies outside the Houses of Parliament in central London on December 13. British Prime Minister Theresa May’s imperial vision of a Britain trading on its own terms with everyone is 150 years out of date. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:10pm, 1 Jan 2018Updated: 9:22pm, 1 Jan 2018

Proud patriotic Brexiteers heralded a major victory in their quest to rescue Britain’s sovereignty from the tyranny of Brussels and other malign foreign influences. Prime Minister Theresa May’s government announced that in 2019 the old bold British blue passport would replace Britain’s existing burgundy-coloured passports tainted with the heading “European Union”.

Brandon Lewis, the immigration minister, boasted that the return of the “iconic blue and gold” British passport was part of “a unique opportunity to restore our national identity and forge a new path for ourselves in the world”.

As in too many other episodes of the Brexit soap opera, these words are a farrago of lies, half-truths and delusions.

Sure, I remember the great British blue and gold passport, though the gold tended to tarnish quickly and wear off. Lewis knows that this is not the passport post-Brexit Britain will return to.

Indeed, all that will happen with passports after 2019 is that the words “European Union” will be dropped and the cover colour will change from burgundy to blue.

The other lie on which Lewis and other supporters of the great British delusion rely is that the wicked European Union forced the United Kingdom to give up its old blue passport to conform with community rules. The so-called “iconic blue” British passport dates back only to 1921, and was introduced not because of a British decision, but because the League of Nations decided the previous year on the common size and standards for passports worldwide.