It’s 2005 and Tony Blair is in Brussels, speaking in the European Parliament. Britain is riding high after brokering a £586bn EU budget.
Suddenly, he pauses.
Then the prime minister turns sharply toward Ukip’s Nigel Farage.
“Let me tell you, sir,” he says, the chamber buzzing with anticipation, “you sit there with our country’s flag – but you do not represent our country’s interests.
“This is 2005, not 1945. We are not fighting each other anymore.”
His words ring truer today than ever. And yet, somewhere along the line, we’ve given the flag away and it’s now time to reclaim it.
As we talk, the Right have monopolised our Union Jack to make migration a connotation.
A connotation of panic, terror, fright. But since when did we associate our flag with fear of whichever kind?
Did we fear the Nazis in 1940? No! Did we fear losing to Argentina in 1966? No! Do we fear our own neighbours, colleagues, or friends because of where they come from? Certainly not.
And I might as well mention it here. There is a difference between legal and illegal migration and integration is important.
As I wrote last week, research by Hope Not Hate shows the recent series of flag-raising is coming from far-right pound-shop patriots.
According to the charity, one of the co-founders of Operation Raise the Colours – who is behind most of the flags on lamp posts – is Andrew Currien, better known as Andy Saxon, a longtime ally of Tommy Robinson.
Currien was once a key member of the English Defence League’s bodyguard team, now runs security for Britain First, and has even served jail time for his part in a racist killing.
And reports say he isn’t the only one.
Reclaiming the Jack
So how do we reclaim our flag?
A mosque in Birkenhead has started the patriotic revolution.
Real British patriot Imam Ibrahim Syed, 44, put up the Union Jack in the window of his place of worship after an alleged member of Raise the Colours tied the flag on a railing outside.
“We decided we needed to claim our narrative of being British and being Muslim and our claim as much as anybody’s to the Union Jack,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
“We thought what could send a powerful message is that if we could display a Union Jack in our window to show that we are British, that we do belong and this is as much our flag as anyone else’s.”
My place of worship, the Church of England, has made an intervention surrounding mass deportation policies.
“It isn’t the British way,” says the country’s top bishop, Stephen Cottrell.
And I’m sure many atheist, Jewish, and Hindu friends would agree because while we need to get to grips with migration, the flag is too big to be fearful.
It represents community, unity, and pride.
This is something the Left also gets wrong, too. That needs to change.
For twenty years, the battle against right-wing populists and even the far-right to reclaim the flag has been on hold.
Now, the real patriotic revolution has just begun. Meanwhile, the far-right are only showing off their one reliably erect achievement: a lamppost flag
We should fight fearlessly for what our flag stands for.