The balance between political dogma and the reality of events is difficult in the UK. It is usually hard to unpick the component parts without taking sides.
I agree that UK is very different from the US and France in its circumstances.
Once India gained its independence, something unimaginable to Churchill but already inevitable before WW2, the rest of Britain's Empire became irrelevant.
The Suez crisis was an anachronism. The canal was built to link England and India. We had withdrawn from Egypt in 1953 because it was too costly and unpopular with Egyptians.
The African colonies were late additions to Empire and as Macmillan recognised needed to be given independence quickly
The Gulf's oil becomes less significant once the US controls the vast Saudi oilfields and the Shah those in Iran.
Events dear boy, events as Macmillan observed.
Entry to the EEC in 1971 was supposed to mark the UK's recognition that its future lay in Europe not in distant trouble spots.
But France and Germany made the club rules. De Gaulle was right that London looks to New Yprk not Paris (or Washington for that matter)
While some Brits moved to France and Spain the attrsctions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA remained greater.
US and Australian entertainers not French or Germans filled our screens.
So in 2024 despite the clusterguck of Brexit the UK remains different but not sure where it wants to be.
