As the government ramps up its rhetoric on social media safety in response to the racist abuse hurled at Rashford, Saka, and Sancho after the Euros final, new data from both the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and the Kick It Out equality campaign show that whilst the level of abuse has increased in the past year, the majority of it is coming from overseas. A point which Gareth Southgate also acknowledged on Monday.

Sanjay Bhandari, chairman of Kick It Out, revealed that roughly 70% of all abuse over the past two seasons came from foreign accounts, adding:

““These are not football fans…They are people who have never been inside an English football ground.”

The Centre for Countering Digital Hate, meanwhile, found 105 Instagram accounts had directed abuse towards England players after the final. BBC Newsnight’s investigation revealed the locations of 64 of those accounts, of which only 5 came from the UK. Clearly this is still a problem, yet it’s worth bearing in mind where most of the abuse originates when trying to legislate against it…

Political pundits and Westminster hacks (along with the rest of the country) eagerly watched England’s triumphant victory against rivals Germany in last night’s match. Guido has collected the best and worst political reactions.

• Enjoying the match from the stands Guido spotted, Sadiq Khan, Oliver Dowden, Dan Rosenfield, and David Lammy.
• Dowden proudly posted an instagram pic of himself celebrating alongside Prince William, George, and Kate Middleton.
• Boris Johnson took several staged photos with Carrie, featuring the pair enjoying football in the No. 10 offices. However, leaked videos from later in the night, show the PM almost jumping for joy when Kane scored England’s second goal, shouting “Harry Kane’s finally scored”. Boris actually recognised Harry Kane… 

Boris Johnson limbs when Kane scored. pic.twitter.com/4b8SepNo3J

— Away Days Videos (@AwayDaysVideos) June 29, 2021

• Nicola Sturgeon reluctantly congratulated England for their victorious win, tweeting: “still just one team unbeaten by England so far in Euro2020″. 

Congratulations, @England
(Still just one team unbeaten by 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 so far in @EURO2020 😉🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿)

— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 29, 2021

• Angela Rayner couldn’t resist making a party political jibe, whilst everyone else was having fun watching the match. She tweeted “I’m genuinely worried Priti Patel would stop football at the border and try to deport it”. 

I’m genuinely worried Priti Patel would stop football at the border and try to deport it https://t.co/rTwckjmyj0

— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) June 29, 2021

Last night on Sky News, Isabel Oakeshott accused the Sky News of trying to start a “race row” with the worst take that goal scorer Raheem Sterling should have appeared on more front pages of newspapers. 

Having avoided a national row about the kneeling, could we not avoid a race row when everyone is celebrating?

Politicians love to associate themselves with something as populist as football and Rishi is no different. However the authenticity of his support – or at the very least the longevity of his support – is called into question by the three price tags which can be seen still attached to his England football shirt in this publicity shot. A rare slip in his usually slick operation. It’s a bit “Gordon Brown wakes up to the Arctic Monkeys…”

Alongside many constituents, Tory MPs have launched a sweepstake for the 2020 Euros – a potentially risky draw for some to enter given their anger at England over taking-the-knee.

Earlier this month, four Tory MPs in particular spoke out against the team’s virtue-signalling: Brendan Clarke-Smith, Tom Hunt, Jonathan Gullis and Lee Anderson. While Lee Anderson explicitly called for a boycott, Clarke-Smith didn’t hold back, saying Gareth Southgate’s comments were “an insult to fans’ intelligence” and said fans were sick and tired of being “lectured on morality”. Guess which team Brendan drew in the MP sweepstake…

• Felicity Buchan – Switzerland🇨🇭
• Aaron Bell – Belgium🇧🇪
• Jane Hunt – Russia🇷🇺
• Ben Spencer – France🇫🇷
• Kat Fletcher – Ukraine🇺🇦
• Jonathan Gullis – Netherlands🇳🇱
• Paul Howell – Turkey🇹🇷
• Matt Vickers – Croatia🇭🇷
• Siobhan Baillie – Italy🇮🇹
• Virginia Crosbie – Denmark🇩🇰
• Stuart Anderson – Wales🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
• Brendan Clarke-Smith – England🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
• Imran Ahmad Khan – Spain🇪🇸
• Andrew Griffith – Sweden🇸🇪
• Mark Eastwood – Scotland🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
• Andy Carter – Portugal🇵🇹
• Suzanne Webb – Hungary🇭🇺
• James Daly – Germany🇩🇪
• Robert Largan – Poland🇵🇱
• Gareth Bacon – Slovakia🇸🇰
• Luke Evans – Czech Republic🇨🇿
• Gagan Mohindra – North Macedonia🇲🇰
• Dehenna Davison – Austria🇦🇹
• Craig Williams – Finland🇫🇮

Bad luck Brendan – and Matt Vickers of course…