Was the recent Tynwald Day x Westminster collab just a pageant or pragmatic politics?

With the Isle of Man's national week fading in the rear-view mirror we wanted to reflect on the Isle of Man Government's inaugural Tynwald Day event in Westminster hosted by British parliamentarians on behalf of the Isle of Man Government.

Firstly, Reayrtys was honoured with an invite to the Government's inaugural event in the Houses of Parliament to celebrate Tynwald Day. Hosted by the self-professed Isle of Man-phile and Speaker of the House, Sir Lindsey Hoyle, and with speeches by the various representatives of the newly resurrected All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Isle of Man, it was very much a British love-in.

The event itself was well attended with the Isle of Man Government bringing a mix of big and small businesses, civil servants and CoMin; while the UK brought a range of politicians and Ministry of Justice civil servants, with a smattering of representatives from other countries, including the Channel Islands and Faroe Islands.

Despite the Isle of Man's Gaelic, Celtic or Viking history we didn't notice anyone attending from Scotland, Wales, NI, Cornwall or Ireland and the Scandi countries, which we think was a missed opportunity. Whilst the event championed our 'ancient Parliament' and celebrated the history and significance of Tynwald, the narrative felt peculiar in that it was all compared to Westminster and the UK - an odd framing given Tynwald and Manx history has very little of the "ancient connections" that were referred to frequently by speakers. Even one of the small business owners we spoke to remarked how it would be better to organise such an event in partnership with our Scandinavian cousins!

Now, at Reayrtys we get that the UK is an important partner for the Isle of Man and making supportive statements is expedient in political and diplomatic terms. But at times it felt like this pragmatism strayed into Anglo-philian pageantry as various speakers extolled the value of the Isle of Man to the "British Family". In his speech, the Chief Minister wowed British Parliamentarians with all the achievements we have made in supporting the UK economy - from investing in the Liverpool waterfront (Steam Packet terminal) to how the Crown Dependencies funnel 10% of UK's direct investment and even how we are in the planning stages of a big offshore renewables project which could make a significant contribution to the UK's renewable energy ambitions!

Around the set piece speeches, while we had some very interesting discussions, it wasn't entirely clear how to translate the assembled individuals into something tangible and strategic which kind of left us feeling that the event was a bit more ideologically driven than a pragmatic attempt to drive real change.

And maybe that was the point.

So, given the Government have floated the idea that this could be the first of an annual IOM-UK celebration, how could this type of event be improved? Reayrtys has provided a number of key recommendations to the Cabinet Office, which we list below:

1/ Strategic impact - need to recognise and leverage the strategic value of the people and networks represented at these events. Celebration ansd set piece speeches are good, but not enough in order to delvier real outcomes

2/ Cultural Connections - ensure our ‘unique history’, language and culture are used as strategic levers to show how the Isle of Man offers a differentiated status and position to drive growth alongside the UK and, in particular, alongside other Celtic countries.

3/ Language and Framing - ensure our strategic positioning and the wider narrative deployed by the Cabinet Office and External Relations team elevates the Isle of Man in a positive and assertive way, rather then subsuming us into a vague 'British Family’.  

More broadly, going forward we would also like to see more bilateral event engaging other countries, beyond the UK and a much greater recognition of the Isle of Man's unique and distinctive history in these type of events. More significantly, the Isle of man Government should be much more assertive in who we are and where we are going, much like other small countries that punch above their weight on the global stage.