It’s April 23 so that means it’s Saint George’s Day. This is a day that with every passing year has become increasingly politicised by so-called patriots who claim the English can’t celebrate their patron saint because of the ‘woke’.
The irony of course is that many of these voices likely have no idea about who Saint George was – and plenty of these people would demonise him if he existed today.
Allow us to explain…
Who was St George?
Saint George is one of the most famous Christian saints and the patron saint of England – but he had nothing to do with England during his lifetime.
Born in Turkey to a Turkish father and Palestinian mother, George lived in the Middle East.
As a young man, he joined the Roman army and quickly rose through the ranks, but suffered persecution at the hands of the Romans after he protested against Emperor Diocletian’s campaign of oppression against Christians.
Saint George openly declared his faith and refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods. As a result, he was arrested, tortured, and eventually executed. His death made him a martyr in Christian tradition.
The most famous story associated with Saint George is of course his slaying of the dragon. Whilst the story is obviously the stuff of legend and mythology, the image of George slaying a dragon is seen as being symbolic of the battle between good and evil, and remaining true to your faith.
According to Independent, the story of St George’s symbolic courage, compassion and acceptance of others travelled from the Middle East to English shores over the centuries and in the 14th century he was adopted as England’s patron saint.
How would he be treated by a Reform government?
Let’s fast-forward to the present day, where Reform are top of the polls with their promises of a crackdown on immigration and hardline rhetoric towards migrants.
Nigel Farage’s party, who love nothing more than bragging about their patriotism and love for the St George’s cross, have promised to drastically reduce both legal and illegal immigration should they get into power.
At the centre of their immigration policy are plans to deny asylum to people arriving illegally in the UK, carry out mass deportation for people without legal status in the UK and leave the European Convention of Human Rights to make this all much easier.
At the moment, a Reform general election win in 2029 seems a very real possibility.
So imagine in a few years a man called George crosses the Channel on a small boat. He’s a courageous and compassionate man who has had to flee his homeland because he will be arrested, tortured and killed there for being a Christian.
A Reform government would turn him away.
Even if he did manage to stay, under Reform’s plans it would effectively be impossible for him to gain permanent residency in the UK (Reform want to abolish Indefinite Leave to Remain) and every five years he would have to apply again to stay in the country, forever living with the fear that he could be sent back to a country where he is persecuted for his religion.
Little do those who hang the St George’s Cross on lampposts or paint it on roundabouts know that the man whose flag they adore wouldn’t be welcome in the Britain they want in the future.
So next time you’re chatting to someone about St George’s Day, ask them if they really know who he was – and how much he’d be demonised by much of this country.