It’s hard to pinpoint when it happened – the exact moment when the England flag went from being a benign show of patriotism to a dog-whistle call to racism.
At one point, the St George’s flag was even considered the “safe”, more inclusive alternative to the union jack, the latter having been co-opted by the National Front in the late 1970s. Football was arguably the driving force behind this: in a 2019 speech, former Labour leader Ed Miliband said: “Since Euro ’96, English football fans have helped to reclaim the flag of St George from the BNP.”
