The Clumsy Promotion of British Nationalism

I've heard this abomination. Thousands of kids have had to sing it. And now it's your turn.



Like many people, I'm prone to ear worms. Those songs that stick in your brain and will not be shaken loose. It's not bad when it's something decent, but for the last two days this ostentatiously patriotic piffle, which all schoolchildren are officially being encouraged to sing on 25th June by the Department for Education, has proven an absolute torture.

Forget the silly Nazi Germany/Hitler Youth hyperbole peddled by more excitable types, One Britain One Nation is the official song of the One Britain One Nation campaign whose explicit aim is to develop a civic national identity similar in character to the 'official' nationalism of the SNP. Comrades fulminating against stormtroopers might want to reflect a bit deeply on the material proferred. Look at the video, it's very multi-culty with dozens of children from black and minority ethnicity backgrounds. Think about the happy clappy lyrics wedded to the trite incantations of our unitied unified nation in unity: not exactly Deutschland über Alles. Check out the guy behind it, Kash Singh. A former copper, he won plaudits for his softly-softly community-based approach to policing in the wake of the Bradford riots. Is it likely the kinds of people booing at footy players taking the knee and exercised by the imaginary evils of the scapegoat-of-the-hour are going to see this video and welcome it? Doubtful. It will be dismissed as lefty crap as far as they're concerned.

Like the Gareth Southgate open letter, Singh's efforts sit in a recent tradition Boris Johnson's government are groping toward: the rebranding of British national identity undertaken by New Labour. Fortuitously for Tony Blair New Labour coincided with several movements, or moments, in British culture: a new wave of guitar rock, the exploding British R+B and club scenes, Brit art, city centres made safe for gentrification, the early internet, and decisive shifts in popular culture toward anti-racism, LGBTQ acceptance, and the bedding down of gains from the second wave of feminist struggle. Blair, as a relatively youthful leader and fresh face, rode the cultural wave of what he self-consciously branded a "young country". He talked about change and modernisation, and with a tired and broken Tory party in office the Blair of the 1990s and, arguably, up until the Iraq War looked the part for enough people.

But it was not enough to serve as an adjunct to it, the desires the moment unlocked had to be harnessed, and Blair did so in a superficial overhaul of how the British state operated. A parliament for Scotland, devolution for Wales, Northern Ireland, and London, and repositioning the monarchy following Princess Diana's death were all of a piece. Central to this was a new official anti-racism. Everyone had a place in Britain regardless of their ethnicity or religion, everyone had the right to equal opportunities and fairness, and the only people on the outside were those who eschewed "British values". Into this hat fell fascists, racists, travellers (of course), and following the September 11th attacks, jihadists and Islamists. One of the leftist critiques of the early New Labour years pointed out this top-down multiculturalism did not foster inclusivity: it effectuated division, allowed for a new beggar-thy-neighbour politics on the basis of communities competing for resources and representation in local government, quangos, public services, social and council housing, and government itself - all in the name of liberal tolerance.

20 years down the line, what was officially promoted is embedded in the everyday production of social life. Social liberalism is the spontaneous common sense of most people, and outright bigotry a minority view. It's understandable how the Tories, this most chameleon of political formations, are adapting themselves to it. Their war on woke puts them on the wrong side of history, and the more intelligent and far sighted Tories know it. Including, despite indulging the odd racism himself, the Prime Minister.

That said, while One Britain One Nation isn't a Tory front, it is curiously out of time and out of joint. Aside from football, British patriotism for most is a modest, unshowy thing. Contrary to what some think, flag waving is not a popular pastime in the red wall or anywhere else. State-mandated displays of national celebrations come to nought, such as the street parties the government encourages us to hold whenever a royal marries, a new sprog is born, or when the Queen reaches another milestone in her reign (looking forward to the Platinum Jubilee next year?). And likewise, so will this song and the hype around it - especially now it has government backing. In all likelihood, some kids will have memories to cringe to for decades to come but at best most parents and people won't notice it, and those who do will see it as tacky and fake. Inventing and pushing nationhood and national identity has to be subtle and worked at, it can't be mandated or condensed into a setpiece event. Whether it's called Our Britain Our Nation day or not.