There is a long and inglorious history of British intellectuals, notably on the Left, disparaging their own country. George Orwell described the phenomenon in 1941 when Britain was fighting for its survival.

‘England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In Left-wing circles it is always felt there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every British institution.’

Nothing has changed. At a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday, the actress and self-declared socialist Emma Thompson witheringly referred to her country as: ‘A tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, I mean really, a cake-filled, misery-laden, grey old island.’

At a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday, the actress and self-declared socialist Emma Thompson witheringly referred to her country as: ‘A tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, I mean really, a cake-filled, misery-laden, grey old island.

Note the imputation of smallness. Britain in her estimation is not only dismal but also so peripheral and irrelevant that it makes no sense by itself. It follows that its future can only be in Europe. Miss Thompson declares that she feels ‘European’ and says it would be ‘madness’ for Britain to leave the EU.

By the way, what does she mean by ‘cake-filled’? Is this a dig at our national obsession with baking, as exemplified by the BBC programme The Great British Bake Off? Or is she suggesting in a haughtily dismissive, rather nasty way that Britons are fat because they eat too many cakes?

Pacifist

So there we have it. Miss Thompson may be a slight figure given to ill-considered outbursts. But what she said in Berlin (isn’t running down your own country abroad especially bad form?) represents not just the views of mushy-headed ‘luvviedom’ but also large swathes of the British Left.

When George Orwell wrote his essay in 1941, he blamed fellow Leftists before the war for ‘chipping away at English morale, trying to spread an outlook that was sometimes squashily pacifist, sometimes violently pro-Russian, but always anti-British’.

He was thinking of people such as Sidney and Beatrice Webb, founders of the London School of Economics, who in the 1930s ignored Stalin’s mass purges in the Soviet Union and extolled his supposed achievements.

Or Professor Harold Laski, also of the LSE, who was chairman of the Labour Party and mentor of Ralph Miliband, father of Ed. Laski was apparently unconcerned that Soviet prisoners had their teeth smashed with iron bars, and he could not see much of a difference ‘between the general character of a trial in Russia and this country’.

It’s uncanny how closely the Corbynista Emma Thompson (she has expressed her admiration for the new Labour leader) is following the path described by Orwell. She feels the familiar distaste for her own country, and in place of Russia finds hope and meaning in the European Union.

Of course, I am not equating the Soviet Union with the peace-loving EU, where the rule of law generally prevails. But I cannot help observing the grotesque irony that in the capital of Germany this deluded woman should have spoken of how ‘England’s fascistic side’ affected the British view of Germany and World War II.

She even had the nerve to grumble about being ‘completely brainwashed’ by films she saw in her childhood showing the British ‘being marvellous and beating the Nazis’. In other words, so keen is Miss Thompson to find fault with her own country that she represents Britain’s role in the war as being less than heroic, while the Nazis were, relatively speaking, not as bad as is usually made out.

Isn’t this bonkers? It takes flagellation of one’s own country to new extremes.

If this garrulous actress had thought more deeply, she might have reflected that on two occasions last century it was Germany, not Britain, which invaded other European countries without justification, leading to the deaths of tens of millions of people.

Let me ask this question. If Britain is so hopeless, and the rest of the EU so wonderful, why is it that so many migrants from Europe and beyond (on whose behalf Ms Thompson has previously spoken) are beating a path to our shores rather than to most other European countries?

Flocking

The answer is that Britain has a much more buoyant economy than almost every other nation in Europe, which is why not just East Europeans but also hundreds of thousands of French, Italians, Spaniards and others are flocking here.

Needless to say, Britain has much more going for it than a comparatively strong economy. It should be celebrated for the beauty and variety of its countryside, the wonder of its ancient buildings and the general decency of its people. For its respect for the rule of law and its love of tolerance (neither of which attributes have fared as well in most of Europe).

Instead of writing off the land of her birth as a dingy little place on the edge of Europe, why can’t Emma Thompson acclaim its achievements in culture and the arts (including film, where she has earned a bob or two)?

The country which she finds so contemptible is in fact admired and envied by many Europeans.

A love for one’s own country is the most natural of instincts, like love of family. Miss Thompson evidently does not feel it. For her, patriotism is a dirty word, or something incomprehensible.

Remember how in 2014 the Labour MP Emily Thornberry mockingly tweeted a photograph of a house in Rochester draped with flags of St George and the owner’s white van parked in the driveway. This condescending woman has recently been promoted to Shadow Defence Secretary.

To many on the Left — but not, of course, to old working-class Labour — any expression of patriotism is at best embarrassing, and at worse evidence of bigotry. It’s all right, though, to put your faith in a multi-national club like the EU, and to overlook its short-comings and to forget the dark history of some of its member states, as it was once with the Soviet Union.

Incidentally, the one thing the British intellectual Left hates next to its own country is the United States of America, but Emma Thompson is too canny to turn her fire in that direction for fear of a public backlash that might put pay to lucrative future Hollywood films.

Over the coming weeks and months we are going to hear a lot of comments from luvvies and writers and others (albeit probably more sophisticated than Miss Thompson’s) which portray Britain as a sad, arid little country that has to remain part of the infinitely more important EU.

When George Orwell wrote his essay in 1941, he blamed fellow Leftists before the war for ‘chipping away at English morale, trying to spread an outlook that was sometimes squashily pacifist, sometimes violently pro-Russian, but always anti-British’

Nonsense

They will try to wear down our belief in our country, and our confidence in its ability to shape a future outside the European Union. They will also insinuate that those who want to leave the EU hate Europe — which is nonsense. It is possible to love Europe while believing that the European Union is bureaucratic, undemocratic and unaccountable.

My response will be to ignore the advice of anyone who celebrates the EU and deprecates this country. The only pro-EU people to whom I will listen are those who are plainly British patriots.

Everything Emma Thompson said was wrong-headed. She even claimed that she lives in ‘Great Britain, and in Scotland as well’. So dim is her affection for her own country that she doesn’t even realise that Scotland is still part of it!