Uk the mother of all democracies? really i thought that was Greece oddly enough.
And as for that phrase today what a joke , as has oft been said once said the UK is a democracy for a day once every five years. As for today we have an utterly corrupt print media owned by people whose family supported Hitler, allowed, the current PM to use their front page daily with no balancing articles, tax evaders and scurrilous billionaire media moguls pushing their own agenda
And us standing up to China well two big problems there:
1 We could barely stand up to Taiwan these days especially on their doorstep
2 Morally, we have a few historical issues with China and forced supplies of opium, Shanghai , HK etc
And as always more concerned with 'our place in the world' than with the welfare of our citizens