Colonialism Reparations calls on the Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs William Hague to apologize and pay reparations to the former colonies of the British empire for the whole colonial period instead of affirming that Great Britain should “get out of this post-colonial guilt”even though apologies for the British imperialism have never been offered.
On august 31 2012, during an interview with the daily newspaper London Evening Standard, the British Foreign Secretary William Hague stated that “It’s a long time ago, the retreat from empire. You know the Winds of Change speech (in which Harold Macmillan acknowledged the yearning for independence in the colonies) was in 1960 before I was born and I’m the Foreign Secretary. It’s a different generation. Britain is seen in a different light. We have to get out of this post-colonial guilt. Be confident in ourselves”.
However, on January 15 2005 the British Prime minister Gordon Brown already affirmed during an interview with the newspaper Daily Mail that “I've talked to many people on my visit to Africa and the days of Britain having to apologise for its colonial history are over. We should move forward”.
Fortunately, in the next few days many British journalists react to this nonsense such as Owen Jones with William Hague is wrong… we must own up with our brutal colonial past and Myriam Francois-Cerrah with Get over colonial guilt? Not so fast Mr Hague.
Colonialism Reparations calls on the Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs William Hague to apologize and pay reparations to the former colonies of the British empire for the whole colonial period instead of affirming that Great Britain should “get out of this post-colonial guilt” even though apologies for the British imperialism have never been offered and suggests to Mr Hague, who is author of biographies of William Pitt the Younger and William Wilberforce to take inspiration from those who fought for the abolition of the slave trade and slavery.