For a man who was famously said to have “something of the night about him”, Lord Howard knows well how to cause a hullaballoo on a sunny Sunday morning. If one were being charitable, his comments about Gibraltar might be regarded as mischievous – but war isn’t normally the best subject for 'top bants', even the day after April Fool’s. Maybe this is the kind of jingoistic claptrap we are going to get grimly used to.

As Howard rattled his sabre on Sky News, a young, Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker was lying in a critical condition in a London hospital, having been set on by a dozen or more attackers on Friday evening. The teenager was apparently targeted at a bus stop “because of his ethnic background”, say police. Seven people have been charged with violent disorder while one has also been charged with racially aggravated GBH. Others remain sought by officers investigating an incident described as “vicious”.

The tub-thumping comments of a pensioner politician and the asylum seeker-thumping of some south London thugs may not be representative of modern Britain – even in this Brexit age. But let’s not forget that the Foreign Secretary used a World War II comparison to criticise Francois Hollande’s perceived approach to the UK’s EU withdrawal. And Nigel Farage claimed last autumn that the EU had “declared war” on Britain by appointing Guy Verhofstadt as its Brexit negotiator.

Five charged over Croydon bus stop attack as victim recovers

On the ground negative attitudes and actions towards “foreigners” appear to have become more extreme since last summer’s referendum too. In the month after the Brexit vote police recorded a 41 per cent year-on-year increase in racially or religiously aggravated crimes. 14,000 hate crimes were recorded between July and September. Examples of alleged hate incidents in the last six months include a pregnant Somali-born woman who was kicked in the stomach, a Muslim woman whose niqab was torn from her face in Sunderland and a Bangladeshi taxi driver dragged by his beard from his car in Edinburgh. Other instances abound.

And then there were the unedifying chants of England football fans during last month’s ‘friendly’ against Germany in Dortmund. Despite the fact that none in the crowd were old enough to have actually fought in the Second World War, a minority nonetheless delighted in singing about Luftwaffe pilots being blown out of the air by the RAF.

None of this behaviour, from jingoism at one end of the spectrum to racism at the other should be regarded as acceptable. And yet it is the trouble with Brexit that nationalism has been given its head, its varied expressions – from violence on the one hand to rhetorical claptrap on the other – seemingly legitimised among the small-minded or big-mouthed by our coming departure from the EU. No man is an island of course, yet it is becoming increasingly clear that there are plenty of people in this country who revel in our island status and the UK ‘separateness’ from the continent.

Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback LONDON, UK - JULY 16 : A speaker addresses the EDL members at Hyde Park. About a hundred members of The English Defence League (EDL) march on Park Lane for a rally in Hyde Park. The march on 16 July 2016 was heavily policed keeping the group away from the public. (Photo by David Mbiyu/Corbis via Getty Images) Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a ‘love bombing’ rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback The Peoples Assembly Against Austerity, Black Live Matters and The Socialist Workers Party organised a march on Saturday July 16th in London, United Kingdom, against austerity, cuts and Racism. The groups also marched in solidarity against Tory government policies. (Photo by Gail Orenstein/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell

True enough, Britain has benefited from that separation in the past. After all, the fact that this country was able to escape the ravages of Nazi occupation in 1940 has more to do with the difficulty of launching a seaborne invasion than with the remarkable victory of the RAF (including its 20 per cent of foreign pilots) in the Battle of Britain. Which brings us back, like an England football fan, to the war.

It has often been remarked in the last nine months that our fondness for remembering the World Wars – especially the second – seems paradoxical when considered against our decision to leave the EU, an organisation which sprung from the dust of conflict with the stated aim of ensuring there would be no repeat. Yet even more strange is that the antipathy that a minority in this country feel towards outsiders and outcasts is so plainly at odds with the attitudes and values which made Britain a beacon for the rest of the world both during and after World War II.