I don’t want to participate in any kind of political and cultural war,” The Prime Minister told the House of Commons yesterday. PMQ’s media analysis after the game largely ignored the importance of this point, but in the recent context, this is a very important statement. Or, more accurately, a declaration of surrender.
This confirms that we have a generation of English football players who brought us to our The first final in 55 years, Lead the country forward on and off the court. People rightly question why football players are asked to provide ethical leadership in difficult times. This is a fair question, and all politicians need to think about it, including me.
But one of the answers is clear: the political climate established in this country over the years, driven by current government members, has become unignorable for this group of British working-class boys. On the eve of the game, they had to make a choice.
If I go back about 10 years ago, I will remember when I became clear, as a parliamentarian, now called “Red Wall” Seat, the power of power is seriously trying to target working-class communities.after that The 2008 financial crisis, Working people are paying the price for the loss of income and living standards. This provides an opportunity for rights to invade previously inaccessible areas. If they can use the emotions of these difficult times to divide these communities, it will weaken the power base of the left and keep them away from the government.
To be honest, it has a devastating effect. At the time, the Conservative Party adopted a mild version of the strategy: they talked about “strugglers and skiers” and encouraged “hard-working people” to believe that their living standards had declined because their neighbors had not closed their curtains and left at 9 am
The more sinister aspect of it — people of different nationalities or racial heritages that should be blamed — was initially deployed by forces further to the right. However, with the progress of this decade, some of them have penetrated into the mainstream of the Conservative Party. In the past two years, what was originally a secret political strategy has become an open part of this government’s MO. Ministers never stay away from the banner and seize the issue of division.Which brings us back to Euro 2020 And the pre-match friendly in Middlesbrough in early June.When part of the crowd booed Take the knee, I am disturbed by the performance of this issue in the tournament. Then, when the cabinet ministers weighed in, I began to fear what it would release. In some ways, the England locker room is the epitome of all working-class communities that have been impacted by these powerful political forces for at least the past decade. They had a decision, they made a brave decision.
By doing so, they broke the curse of the right and changed the narrative. They portrayed a different image of England from modern times—decent, united, and principled—and the North. It was this resonance that forced the Prime Minister to declare the end of the culture war.
There are always two main flaws in the strategy of the right. First, it is based on the premise that most people in the north have mild xenophobia or racism. That’s not the north I know. There will always be moments when people are bored with people who don’t live here and try to make others have a low and wrong view of us.
I have played football in the Northwest Territories all my life and I am sure that all the locker rooms I have visited will come to the same conclusions as the England team. We are not a hostile homogenous “red wall”, but a hospitable place.
This brings me to the second flaw. In the past ten years, I have sometimes looked at some of the most privileged people in our country in disbelief. They only traveled north briefly, claiming to speak for it. More and more people can now see their identity, and the pandemic experience also plays a role in it.
There are many stories to tell about the 2020 European Cup, but one of them is how the English football team developed a ten-year strategy to divide the working class and force the prime minister to make time for the culture war. Thanks to their efforts, more people in this country will feel more comfortable with this place. Others will ask themselves: Why do these privileged people have different living rules and are good for friends and encourage me to hate my neighbors?
What do you think of the government’s response to kneeling down? Please let us know in the comments below.
