Sir Keir Starmer was featured on the front page of The Sun this morning after giving the newspaper’s political editor, Harry Cole an interview.
The Labour leader has called on Nike to change the colour of the St George’s Cross on a new England football shirt to traditional red after a row over its design.
He said he believed the flag was a “unifier” and insisted the sporting brand should “reconsider” the decision to modify it.
The call comes after Nike revealed it had altered the cross using purple and blue horizontal stripes in what it called a “playful update” to the shirt ahead of Euro 2024.
The US firm said the colours were inspired by the training kit worn by England’s 1966 World Cup winners.
But eager to stoke up the anti-woke crowd up in arms over the move, Starmer has blasted Nike for meddling with the red and white cross, saying “it doesn’t need to be changed” and that “we just need to be proud of it”.
Having the backing of The Sun is generally considered a must for successful election campaigns.
With the exception of 2010 and (to a lesser extent) 2017, whichever party the tabloid has backed at a general election has gone on to win.
The Sun was a Labour paper until 1979, when it came out for Margaret Thatcher, telling readers “Vote Tory This Time”.
It also proudly declared that it was ‘The Sun Wot Won It’ in 1992 when John Major won the election against the odds, before backing Sir Tony Blair in 1997.
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