We’re Here Because You Were There: Immigration and the End of Empire

In a series of post-war immigration laws from 1948 to 1971, arrivals from the Caribbean, Asia and Africa to Britain went from being citizens to being renamed immigrants. In the late 1960s, British officials drew upon an imperial vision of the world to contain what it saw as a vast immigration ‘crisis’ involving British citizens, passing legislation to block their entry.

As a result, British citizenship itself was redefined along racial lines, fatally compromising the Commonwealth and exposing the limits of Britain’s influence in world politics.

Combining voices of so-called immigrants trying to make a home in Britain and the politicians, diplomats and commentators who were rethinking the nation, in We’re Here Because You Were There Ian Sanjay Patel excavates the reasons why Britain failed to create a post-imperial national identity.

Chosen as a BBC History Magazine Book of the Year 2021

Shortlisted for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize 2022