In the second half of the twentieth century, Empire has been both remembered and portrayed by successive British governments as a positive phenomenon, despite a relentless decline in the British Empire's reach. Britain's imperial inheritance conveyed strong images of a seafaring nation with an effective global span and with great global responsibilities, of a stable monarchy and of a secure, legitimate and respected constitution. These memories have been closely inter-twined with heroism, and success in war in the twentieth century, as Britain, its empire and its dominions contributed to victory in two world wars. Received images of war promoted national British solidarity and emphasised the resilience of the British constitution as well triumph on the battlefield: these were truly memories of power. Such memories of power in turn contributed to enduring suspicions of post-war continental European supranational integration, a sense of superiority compared to other Europeans, and a notion that the United Kingdom's role in European international politics was still that of a balancer of other continental powers.

One facet of what has remained of Britain's post-imperial political culture is a deep craving for a leadership role, or to ‘punch above our weight’ as former Foreign Secretary Lord Hurd once put it. This has been important in the context of image projection at home and in continental Europe, as well as on the wider international stage.