The Guardian view on Britain and the Chagos Islands: a wake-up call from the world

Britain was presented with a profound and urgent wake-up call this week about its standing in the 21st-century world. But the problem, in a political debate consumed by Brexit and Tory leadership speculation, is whether Britain will take any notice at all. The wake-up call was not the UK’s abject last place in the Eurovision song contest, humbling though that was. The far more serious lesson was the one delivered in the United Nations general assembly over the issue of Britain’s continuing occupation of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, of which by far the most important is the enormous US military base and hub of Diego Garcia.

Britain is adamant about its sovereignty over the islands, which dates from Napoleonic times. Its attitude is an unbending insistence that what we have we hold, even in the post-colonial world. It has fought a rearguard action against domestic courts, which found in favour of the islanders who were deported from the Chagos half a century ago, and international courts, which ruled the occupation illegal. When it was clear the UN would debate a motion this week setting a six-month deadline for Britain to withdraw and for the islands to be unified with Mauritius, British and US diplomats went into overdrive in their efforts to limit the scale of the verdict.

When the vote came, however, Britain’s defeat was crushing. The assembly voted by 116-6 against continued British occupation of the islands, with 56 nations abstaining. As diplomatic failures go, it was spectacular. The lessons stretch far beyond the numbers. That’s because, in this week’s vote, Britain’s sole backers were Donald Trump’s US, Viktor Orbán’s Hungary and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel, as well as Australia and the Maldives. Among the countries voting for the motion were not just predictable opponents like Russia, Syria and Venezuela, but Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland. Countries including France, Germany and Canada abstained.

Granted, there can be a lot of posturing on display in these non-binding votes on non-binding legal rulings in a United Nations that has often shown itself powerless in the real world. Nevertheless, this absolutely should not be the place in the global order that modern Britain seeks, especially if Brexit eventually happens. Britain prides itself on its respect for the rule of law. It is a keen advocate of what the 2015 strategic defence and security review approvingly refers to, no fewer than 27 times, as a “rules-based international order”. So, for that same Britain to be isolated alongside some the world’s most egregious rules-busters and law-flouters, over a military base that, among other things, played a part in illegal rendition after 9/11, and at the same time to be separated from our liberal democratic allies in Europe and elsewhere, is a disgrace and a disaster.

This is the more disturbing and dangerous because Britain is touting itself, post-Brexit, as readier than ever to play an enhanced and independent role in the world. This is not to dispute the need for security in the shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean or that the democracies need overseas military and spying facilities to help protect the peace – among the claims made on behalf of Diego Garcia. Nor is it to deny that dictatorial states like to belittle the former colonial powers for their own cynical reasons. But a “global” Britain that exaggerates its power in the 21st century or fails to see itself as others see it is a Britain setting itself up to fail. Diego Garcia is a facility with roots in imperial power and injustice that cannot be dismissed. Brexit or not, Britain needs to move on, because much of the world has already done so.