Is the joke on Britain now?

At a time when debate across the Atlantic has been singularly lacking jocularity and jest, it is heartening to note that at least British politicians still have not lost their sense of humour. While some in the media appear to take the recent utterances of that country’s current environment minister (and failed prime ministerial bidder) Andrea Leadsom quite literally, hopefully she was just channelling that fabled British irony. In case she actually does believe that post-Brexit Britain can prosper on the basis of selling bottled air to China, local wine to France, packaged coffee to Brazil and flatbreads to India, she can justifiably be accused of talking naansense. However, if she was merely trying to tickle an apparently bored Conservative Party conference into wakefulness and her jokey effort fell flat, there is cause for concern.
This portends to be a worse eventuality than a senior British cabinet minister actually pinning hopes of a national revival on such economic activity.
Could self-deprecatory humour — that quintessentially British virtue — be in imminent danger of extinction? After all, several surveys have been quoted in the past to prove that self-deprecatory humour is a genetic trait in Britons. Leadsom’s speech and its reception should be closely examined to determine if the joke’s on Britain now.