Rishi Sunak backs Rule, Britannia at Proms
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Rishi Sunak has backed the performance of Rule, Britannia! at the Last Night of the Proms as he dismissed fresh calls for it to be axed.
Downing Street said the Prime Minister “does enjoy tradition” and was “very comfortable” with customs including the patriotic anthem.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a cellist who performed at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, called for Rule, Britannia! to be scrapped last weekend as he claimed people “don’t realise how uncomfortable a song like that can make a lot of people feel”.
The BBC faced a backlash in 2020 after announcing a plan to perform the Thomas Arne composition without any lyrics, a decision that was reversed days later when Tim Davie became the corporation’s director general.
Asked whether the Prime Minister believed Rule, Britannia! should continue to be played at the Proms, his press secretary said: “He does enjoy tradition, yes.”
Pushed to confirm whether Mr Sunak wanted the song to remain a part of the annual event, Mr Sunak’s press secretary responded: “I think he’s a man that… He’s very modern, but he’s also comfortable in celebrating British traditions.”
Row began after BLM protests
A row over the 2020 event began in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests that erupted in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.
Dalia Stasevska, who conducted the Last Night that year, discussed changing the repertoire to exclude Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory to reflect debates about racism.
The lyric “Britons never, never, never shall be slaves” in Rule, Britannia! was singled out by critics, as well as the lines “Wider still and wider/Shall thy bounds be set/God who made thee mighty/Make thee mightier yet!” in Land of Hope and Glory.
Rule, Britannia! started out as the patriotic finale to the opera Alfred, which had its premiere in 1740 and tells the story of Alfred the Great.
Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister who was the culture secretary at the time of the proposals to drop the lyrics, condemned the BBC’s “cringing embarrassment about our history”, with ministers welcoming the eventual about-turn.
Although Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, also backed Rule, Britannia! being performed, his spokesman said: “Enjoying patriotic songs does not and should not be a barrier to examining our past and learning lessons from it.”
Last year, Downing Street issued a thinly veiled rebuke to hundreds of Last Night attendees who waved European Union flags during a finale in which British flags have traditionally been waved.
