Alphen,
Netherlands. 22 August. Sixty-seven Olympic medals, of which twenty-seven are
gold, with Great Britain second in the medals table ahead of China. Anyone who
thinks sport and politics are somehow separate does not live on this planet.
However, there is and must always be a distinction made between the two.
Equally, I am not going for a moment to suggest that Team GB’s astonishing success at the Rio Olympics denotes some
moral and political superiority of the British nation, not least because there
is no such thing. It is precisely the making of such false connections, and the
nationalism it engenders that leads illiberal powers such as Russia to engage
in the state-sponsored doping of Olympic athletes. However, there are two sets
of strategic lessons that I believe must be heeded from both the London and Rio
Olympics. The first set concerns strategic lessons for the British government
to learn about strategy and performance in the coming post-Brexit world. The
second set concerns how Britain’s European partners deal with Britain in the
coming Brexit negotiations.
First, the
strategic lessons for Britain. The decision to improve Britain’s Olympic
performance was utterly political. In 1996 at the Atlanta Olympics Britain
finished thirty-second in the medals table with a paltry single gold medal. The
nation of plucky losers had again pluckily lost. Enough was enough! When Tony
Blair came to power in 1997 his attempt to recast Britain as ‘Cool Britannia’
(remember that?) led to some £300 million of mainly lottery money being
invested in British elite athletes to improve Britain’s Olympic performance.
This strategy
was bolstered in 2005 when London was awarded what was to become perhaps the
most successful Olympics in the modern era. The London Olympic Park was
delivered on time and to budget with a clear legacy plan enshrined at the core
of a well-designed and well-implemented strategy. Although the aim to get more
people engaged in sport has proven slightly more challenging, particularly for
younger generations bought up on computer games that an oldie like me, brought
up on the playing fields of sporting battle and Oxford, does not get.
There are six
specific lessons for the British government. The first lesson is an old one.
When in a political corner the British remain very good at fighting their way out
of it. Second, given a good strategy and belief in an objective Britain is very
good at delivering. Third, Britain succeeded at both the London and Rio
Olympics by going out and hiring the best coaches irrespective of from where
they came. Fourth, the elite performance programmes for British athletes were utterly
ruthless funding only those people and sports who continually delivered. Fifth,
Britain set out to achieve Olympic success for itself, not to diminish anybody
else. Sixth, Britain’s exit from the EU
must be for Britain and not against ‘Europe’. Indeed, Brexit must not be about
leaving the EU, but re-building Britain’s place in the world as a top five
economy and military power (which Britain will need).
Second, the lessons
for Britain’s European partners in managing divergence; if Brexit is FOR
Britain, further European integration must be FOR ‘Europe’, and not AGAINST
Britain. This morning Francois Hollande, Angela Merkel and Matteo Renzi will
meet on the tiny Italian island of Ventotene. The symbolism could not be more
pointed. As Britain basks in a patriotic, nation-affirming Olympic moment the
leaders of what is soon to be the rump EU will endeavour to recapture the
spirit of European integration the loss of which Brexit has highlighted. Divergence
is inevitable but how that divergence is managed will shape the future of
Europe.
In 1941,
whilst imprisoned by Mussolini, Ernesto Rossi and Altieri Spinelli wrote “The
Manifesto of Ventotene”, which called for the creation of a European federal
state. Today, the the three leaders will
need to consider how to promote further integration without punishing the
British for a democratic choice to reject it. It is a serious point because
such is the extent of pan-European euro-scepticism that failure could see the entire
current crop of European leaders swept aside weakening an already pitifully
weak Europe at a dangerous strategic moment. The pressure to ‘punish’ Britain
will be hard to resist. The greatest fear in Brussels is that the British
actually make a success of Brexit.
Therefore, it
is time for cool heads all round. Let Britain enjoy its moment of Olympic glory
with the clear understanding all round it is sport, not some alternative metaphor
for war. The three leaders on Ventotene could help set the tone for the
forthcoming Brexit negotiations and political reconciliation by jointly congratulating
Britain on its Olympic success, even if it is through gritted teeth. In return Britain must re-commit itself to
being a good partner. That means first and foremost an absolute British
commitment to the security and defence of Europe in the twenty-first century.
The
alternative is one in which all Europeans lose. Before the great battles with
France of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries English and Welsh longbowmen,
armed with the decisive strategic weapon of the age, would stand before ranks
of French knights holding up the two arrow-pulling forefingers of the left hand
to demonstrate their defiance and their firepower. Even today ‘two fingers’ is
a mark of English defiance and there will be part of the English character this
morning that sees Olympic success as ‘two-fingers’ to those who say Britain
cannot thrive outside of the EU. That sentiment must be resisted and its further
stoking avoided – Britain is too important to Europe and Europe too important
to Britain for a serious set of negotiations to be based on defiance…on either
side.
So no, I am
not going to make a spurious connection between British sporting excellence and
national superiority, because there is none, except perhaps for a moment in the
organisation of some Olympic sports (football?). However, I am going to enjoy a
bloody good, momentary gloat!
By the way,
was Australia at the Rio Olympics?
