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  "path": "/politics/st-georges-day-jonathan-brash-keir-starmer-labour-england",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-23T16:06:24.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "as The People's Channel was told in Canvey Island last St George’s Day",
    "who yesterday urged Sir Keir to quit as Prime Minister",
    "which is England's most English town",
    "Schools should 'revive national pride' on St George's Day in challenge to 'elites', urges academic",
    "Councillor sparks outrage with claims 'Palestinian' St George has 'no connection to England'",
    "England's biggest St George’s cross unveiled as council vows to 'continue to fly it with pride'",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nSir Keir Starmer faces a question this St George’s Day. Away from the furore over revelations about Lord Mandelson, the Prime Minister remains at the behest of another problem facing the Labour Party: Is Labour really proud to be English?\n\nThe answer, as The People's Channel was told in Canvey Island last St George’s Day, remains 'no' in some corners of the country.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nReform UK leader Nigel Farage and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson have both accused Sir Keir’s Labour of lacking on the matter of patriotism.\n\nThe row around Operation Raise the Colours also put Sir Keir in a difficult position, with the Prime Minister being forced to insist that “patriotism is always an important thing”.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHowever, for Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash, who is a leading member of Blue Labour’s eight-man caucus in the House of Commons, the question prompts a rather clearer answer.\n\nThe former teacher told GB News: \"At times, parts of the left have been too hesitant to talk about nation, identity, and pride and that’s been a mistake.\n\n\"Because patriotism, properly understood, is about service, contribution, and responsibility to one another.\n\n\"Labour’s history shows that clearly. We are the party that built the NHS, backed our armed forces, and helped shape the international alliances that keep us secure. That’s something we should be confident in saying.\"\n\nMr Brash, who yesterday urged Sir Keir to quit as Prime Minister, added: \"The argument I make within Labour is simple: we should never cede patriotism to others. Our values and our record are deeply rooted in the story of this country.\"\n\nThe Red Wall MP's fears about how the left has previously spoken about patriotism appear all too important to Sir Keir’s own electability.\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nPolling by More in Common at the time of the 2024 General Election found that 36 per cent of voters who identify as exclusively English voted Labour, compared to 28 per cent for the Tories and 23 per cent for Reform UK.\n\nHowever, residents in Canvey Island, which is England's most English town, last year pinned any hope of a revival in English pride squarely on Nigel Farage's shoulders.\n\nIn a direct challenge to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Mr Brash said: \"Patriotism isn’t owned by any one party and it certainly doesn’t belong to Nigel Farage or Reform UK.\n\n\"If you believe in the NHS, if you believe in backing our armed forces, if you believe in giving every child a fair chance, then you’re expressing a form of patriotism.\n\n\"Because that’s about wanting your country to succeed and your fellow citizens to thrive.\"\n\nDespite the Hartlepool MP's insistence, some GB News readers may remain somewhat wary of Labour’s attempt to wrap itself, in this instance, in the flag of St George.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:\n\n\n\n\n  * Schools should 'revive national pride' on St George's Day in challenge to 'elites', urges academic\n  * Councillor sparks outrage with claims 'Palestinian' St George has 'no connection to England'\n  * England's biggest St George’s cross unveiled as council vows to 'continue to fly it with pride'\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nLeft-wing circles have been accused of being beset by intellectuals who berate symbols of patriotism for decades.\n\nGeorge Orwell, the great socialist writer of the 20th century, wrote: \"In left-wing circles, it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution.\n\n\"It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during ‘God Save the King’ than of stealing from a poor box.\"\n\nThe problem returned in 2014 when Labour MP Dame Emily Thornberry was said to have been sneering at a voter when she took a photo of a St George’s flag in Kent.\n\nEx-Labour MP John Denham previously admitted: \"It is undoubtedly the case that people on the liberal left are largely responsible for stereotyping Englishness as an inevitably reactionary or racist identity, when it isn't.\"\n\nThe Prime Minister last night delivered his St George's Day message to the nation, placing \"values of service, of generosity, and of respect\" as cornerstones of what it means to be English.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nSir Keir added: \"It’s really important we do that, because there’s no getting round the fact that there are voices both here and abroad, who would seek to divide us, who want to set us apart from each other, who want to pretend that in this country, what we really do is to distinguish between people, to find their points of difference, to have a sort of toxic culture of hatred between different individuals, different groups, different communities.\"\n\nHowever, talk about national pride also triggered some Labour MPs to lash out at political rivals.\n\n\"The majority of us love our country, rather than a far-right fantasy version of it – and I believe it is for all of us to stand up and make our patriotism and our unity clear,\" Labour MP Calvin Bailey told GB News.\n\nMr Brash took a slightly different approach, saying: \"For me, patriotism is about pride in our achievements and a determination to build on them.\"\n\nHe included the creation of the National Health Service, expanding opportunities for children regardless of their background, standing firm on the world stage as key chapters in Labour's proud history with England.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMr Brash added: \"Fundamentally, because of the values that have shaped our country, fairness, decency, courage, and a deep sense of looking out for one another.\n\n\"And I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together as a nation when we’ve been at our best.\"\n\nHowever, Mr Brash is not alone in pushing for Labour to show its patriotic colours.\n\nThe gang of eight involved in Blue Labour, albeit a tiny minority in the parliamentary Labour Party, places itself firmly on its patriotic fringes.\n\nSpearheaded by proud Brexiteer Lord Maurice Glasman, the group appears unapologetic in addressing the issues that matter most to GB News readers.\n\nFrom migration to net zero to rape gangs and trans identity politics, Blue Labour serves as a reminder of a once proud tradition that found itself at home in the Labour Party.\n\n### Shabana Mahmood\n\n\n\n\nHome Secretary Shabana Mahmood is perhaps the most high-profile member of Blue Labour.\n\nMs Mahmood, who is already ruffling the feathers of her own parliamentary colleagues with her steadfast push to shake up migration laws, was particularly forthcoming about her Englishness this week.\n\nDuring an interview with podcaster Matt Forde in the West End on Monday, Ms Mahmood was repeatedly heckled for \"out-Reforming Reform\" and faced cries of \"refugees welcome\".\n\n\"I’m not going to let a tinpot racist or some random heckler or anybody else claw away at the foundations of who I am as a person,” the Home Secretary responded.\n\n\"I’m a proud Englishwoman. I’m a proud Brit, I’m a hugely proud Muslim. That is the absolute core of my life.\"\n\nShe added: \"I do think there is that element of it which is: ‘How dare you, a brown woman, say a thing that we white liberals think you’re not allowed to say?’ Well, I’m saying it.\n\n\"That’s why I said this individual can just f**k right off, because I know I belong in my own country. You’re not going to be able to do that to me.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n### Dan Carden\n\n\n\n\nLiverpool Walton MP Dan Carden has argued that traditional left-right political labels are becoming less relevant, pointing to what he sees as a broader realignment in British politics.\n\nOnce a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, the 38-year-old is now associated with a strand of Labour thinking that combines left-wing economics with a stronger emphasis on community, culture and national identity.\n\nMr Carden has warned of a growing divide between liberal progressive politics and the lived experience of the working class, suggesting that Labour has become disconnected from the communities it was founded to represent.\n\nHe has also criticised aspects of contemporary progressivism, arguing that they can be damaging where they appear to undermine long-standing institutions such as trade unions and churches.\n\nHe has shown a willingness to engage with politically sensitive issues.\n\nMr Carden was the first Labour MP to call for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, breaking with many in his party and reinforcing his view that Labour must be prepared to confront difficult questions around crime, cohesion and social breakdown.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n### Jonathan Hinder\n\n\n\n\n\"It is the neglect of our national interest that has left us so exposed,\" Pendle & Clitheroe MP Jonathan Hinder said at a debate at the Cambridge Union in February.\n\nThe former police officer, who co-founded Blue Labour, added: \"I am proud to fly the Union flag and what it represents... [and] I am immensely proud of our national history.\"\n\nMr Hinder, an unapologetic socialist who has also condemned the emergence of \"ethno-nationalism\", is cementing himself as Labour's leading common sense MP.\n\nThe 35-year-old is pushing to \"reconnect with our working-class base\" and \"proudly reclaim our patriotism\".\n\nHe has played a leading role in opposing NHS trials of puberty blockers, working alongside Rebecca Paul to rail against the \"horrific\" experiment.\n\nMr Hinder is also determined to ensure Labour gets a grip of the migrant crisis, even accusing liberals who support high levels of net migration of deploying an \"absurd argument\".\n\n### ​David Smith\n\n\n\n\nNorth Northumberland MP David Smith is the only Scotsman to make the list from Blue Labour.\n\nThe special envoy for freedom of religion, who previously worked in the charity sector, raised grave concerns about Christian persecution in the House of Commons earlier this year.\n\nMr Smith, who is himself a Christian, said: \"One fact should make the scale of the challenge clear: more Christians are killed each year in Nigeria for being Christians than in all other countries combined.\"\n\nHe also put pressure on Sir Keir over the family farm tax and penned a joint article with his Blue Labour colleagues expressing his \"proudly patriotic\" position.\n\n### ​Connor Naismith\n\n\n\n\nFor Crewe & Nantwich MP Connor Naismith, Blue Labour is just true Labour.\n\nMr Naismith, who is in his early thirties, previously warned Labour's 2019 defeat proved the leadership's decision to shift towards metropolitan liberalism left those who were once part of the party's tradition behind.\n\nHe also used the term \"Boriswave\" during a debate on immigration to criticise the Conservative Party's handling of Britain's borders.\n\nThe Blue Labour stalwart has even urged Sir Keir to capitalise on the benefits of Brexit and end the use of asylum hotels in Crewe.\n\n### Margaret Mullane\n\n\n\n\nMargaret Mullane, a long-time ally of Blue Labour architect Jon Cruddas, has defended her Dagenham & Rainham constituents for something others in the party once found detestable: Brexit.\n\nHowever, the former trade union railed against GB News at Labour's 2025 Conference.\n\nShe accused The People's Channel of \"stoking the flames\" by focusing its coverage on Channel crossings rather than austerity.\n\nMs Mullane also labelled Reform UK as \"far-right\", adding: \"I do believe that Nigel Farage's message and what he's doing does align with the BNP.\"\n\n### ​Preet Kaur Gill\n\n\n\n\nBirmingham Edgbaston MP Preet Kaur Gill is the third female MP enlisted in Blue Labour's ranks.\n\nShe joined calls for an \"unflinching\" inquiry into the rape gangs scandal, dismissing the suggestion that doing so was an inherently right-wing position.\n\nMs Kaur Gill is also among a small group of Labour MPs who remain steadfast in the belief that single-sex spaces protect women's safety, dignity and equality.\n\nThe daughter of Sikh Indian immigrants, the 53-year-old is pushing for \"honesty\" about borders and belonging.\n\n\"Illegal migration is illegal and it matters that the public can see the law being enforced fairly and consistently,\" the Birmingham Edgbaston MP wrote in The Telegraph earlier this year.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Meet the MP who just told Keir Starmer's Labour it's time to admit England is great"
}