Singaporeans recently said farewell to the UK High Commissioner to Singapore, Scott Wightman.

In his farewell address, Wightman commented on the biggest elephant in the room of British politics: Brexit.

And Wightman held nothing back.

Brexit is like the Fall of Singapore

He compared Brexit's impact to nothing less than Britain's defeat in Singapore to the Japanese in World War II.

According to Politico, Wightman said the defeat demonstrated the "complacency and arrogance of colonial leadership", and that it "transformed" people's view of British imperialism.

And Brexit had a similar effect on Singaporeans.

Wightman said:

"The last three years have done the same for Singaporeans’ view of contemporary Britain. The nation they admired for stability, common sense, tolerance and realism grounded in fact -- they see beset by division, obsessed with ideology, careless of the truth, its leaders apparently determined to keep on digging. I fear many around the world share their view."

Singapore was referenced before

Wightman is not the first British official to use this analogy.

UK MP Crispin Blunt drew a similarity between the Fall of Singapore to Prime Minister Theresa May's failure to deliver a Brexit agreement.

The difference is that while Blunt wishes the Brexit process to be sped up, Wightman believes Brexit itself is comparable to the 1942 disaster.

Wightman, who served as the High Commissioner since 2015, was giving his thoughts in a "confidential diplomatic telegram", which was seen by Politico.

He said that Singaporean ministers were "mystified as to how our political leaders allowed things to get to this pass", although no names were mentioned.

He added that Singapore's leaders were "baffled" by the chaotic politics of the UK.

"Utter political shambles"

Wightman also fired a salvo at an initiative of Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who launched the Singapore-UK Partnership for the Future in January 2019.

Wightman described it as being used in the "classic manner of the illusionist".

Wightman added:

"Like posts across the network and departments in the U.K., we’re performing minor miracles for U.K. interests faced with the utter political shambles of Brexit."

Hunt is currently one of the candidates running for the job of leader of the Conservative party after May announced her resignation on May 24.

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Top image from UK in Singapore's Facebook page.