It comes after a heated summer of anti-migration protests and amid an ongoing national debate about identity.
Now, politicians of all stripes are desperately trying to show that they are true patriots — without endorsing the far right.
POLITICO runs through five politicians totally convincingly getting in on the act.
Keir Starmer
Buttoned-up, lawyerly Prime Minister Starmer has long wrapped himself in the flag, and told the BBC Monday he was “very encouraging” of people letting the fabric fly.
He went one step further, saying he personally always sits “in front of a Union Jack,” and that his family has a “St George’s flag in our flat.” His spokesperson later said they were “limited in how much I can comment on the size of his flag.” A totally normal day.
Yvette Cooper
Not to be outdone, Britain’s home secretary effectively declared herself the biggest flag waver ever to have lived. “I have not just the St George’s flag, I have St George’s bunting,” Cooper told Times Radio. “I have also Union Jack bunting which is currently still hanging up in my garden shed.”
