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…
- Nicola Sturgeon reluctantly congratulated England for their victorious win, tweeting: “still just one team unbeaten by England so far in Euro2020″.
Congratulations, @England
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 29, 2021
(Still just one team unbeaten by 🏴 so far in @EURO2020 😉🏴)
- 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…
The extraordinary performances of English football teams in the European cup competitions this week has led to an outbreak of tragic attempts by politicians to look in touch with ‘ordinary people’ by making endless references to the ball-footy-kick thing. None more so than Jeremy Corbyn who posted a gushing tribute to Spurs on Wednesday night despite them being bitter rivals of his own team, Arsenal…
Even an Arsenal fan can appreciate the astonishing performances by @LFC and @SpursOfficial over the last two nights. Two underdogs defying the odds to set up an all English Champions League Final. Congratulations and good luck to both teams in the final. #AJATOT
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) May 8, 2019
Yet despite Arsenal qualifying for their own European final almost 24 hours ago (ok it’s only the Europa League, but still…) Jeremy Corbyn is still yet to send any message of congratulations whatsoever to his own beloved team of several decades. He’s not Gooner win over any fans like that…
Guard change at Windsor Castle #ItsComingHome pic.twitter.com/hcXYJwEMEx
— Richard Bannan (@richardbannan) July 6, 2018
The band of the Royal Logistical Corps…
Orwell had the Guardian columnists of his time in mind when he wrote in “The Lion and the Unicorn”:
England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. 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, from horse racing to suet puddings. 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.
On seeing Paul Mason’s tweets and flag-emblazoned cheeks last night John Denham pulled him up “Remember: no one made you say ‘I do not want to be English’” Mason retorted that “It’s still my position – My ethnicity is British – my nationality proletarian”. Which is of course bollocks. “British” is not an ethnicity and proletaria is not a place. Rather than knocking Mason let’s celebrate his coming home to that most English of things – football. His emotional connection to the flag and the national sport shows that, underneath the buzzword-laden ideological ramblings, he is still a human…
