On the face of it Gordon Brown’s speech on Britishness to the Fabian Society yesterday had much to commend it. He celebrated the “golden thread” running through our history from the Magna Carta in 1215, through the Bill of Rights in 1689 to standing up against fascism in the 1940s. He wanted young people to be aware of our past, making Britain’s history central to the national curriculum, “not just dates, places and names . . . but a narrative that encompasses our history”. He argued that being British does not mean isolation from Europe. By standing firm it is possible to advance our interests in the European Union. He made it clear that he will not be happy with the messy constitutional legacy the prime minister will leave him and an accountable second chamber must be part of a coherent constitutional settlement.

Look deeper, however, and his motives seem a little less lofty. There is something a bit cynical about a Scot, knowing he is not the toast of Surrey, wrapping himself in the Union Jack to appeal to English voters. Setting up straw men to knock down does not make for intelligent debate either. Most people are quietly proud to be British; only a minority wince at the mention of empire. We do not fly the flag in our gardens because we are ashamed of it, but because it would be naff, aping the American habit.

Devolution for Scotland and Wales and its cackhanded failure in the English regions has given us an unbalanced Britain. Many of this government’s actions are profoundly un-British, from its failure to address the West Lothian question to its championing until recently of multiculturalism. Yet the knowledge tests it has introduced for naturalised citizens are utterly banal. The chancellor says the values on which Britishness is based “owe more to progressive ideas than to right-wing ones”. Who says? With apologies to Dr Johnson, when invited by Boswell to admire the striking prospect of a Scottish landscape: “Sir, the noblest prospect which the chancellor ever sees is the high road that leads him to No 10.”