The patriotic song Rule, Britannia! is “alienating” to large numbers of British people according to Labour’s shadow culture secretary.
Thangam Debbonaire said she welcomed a “good debate” about the anthem’s performance at the Last Night of the Proms.
She said the famous tune was “not my favourite bit of music” but added that any decision on the song’s inclusion should be up to the BBC, not politicians.
The national broadcaster was criticised in 2020 over a plan for a rendition of Rule, Britannia! without any lyrics in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. However, such was the backlash that the decision was reversed in days.
Naysayers have long-since claimed that the anthem generates uneasy associations with slavery and Britain’s colonial past.
Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason breathed new life into the debate in January, arguing that the Proms should get rid of the song from the Proms’ running order entirely as it made “a lot of people” feel “uncomfortable”.
Bristol West MP Debbonaire told the Spectator’s Women with Balls podcast, in response to Kanneh-Mason’s comments: “It’s not my favourite bit of music. And the Proms is a fantastic institution and it’s the world’s greatest music festival.
“I think it’s a decision for the people who run the Proms and again, like I said, it shouldn’t be politicians who tell people how to run cultural events.
“I think for a lot of people that feels like a very sort of British moment, which I think has to be respected as well, but for a lot of people, as Sheku Kenneh-Mason said, it will feel alienating.
“As I want the Proms – I want culture – to be accessible to everyone, I think it’s a good debate for us to be having.”
Ms Debbonaire’s comments come in contrast to the position taken by the prime minister earlier this, as Number 10 dismissed the clamour for the anthem to be scrapped. Mr Sunak said he was “comfortable in celebrating British traditions”.
The remarks made by 57-year-old Ms Debbonaire were trashed by a number of Tory MPs. According to The Telegraph, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “I think that it is a uniting song. It is about the marvellous history of this country to which every British citizen belongs.
“There are always some people who don’t like the country to which they belong. The overwhelming majority of people are proud of Britain, proud of its history, and this is encapsulated in the very stirring words of Rule, Britannia!”
Philip Davies, the Tory MP for Shipley, remarked: “Rule, Britannia! is an integral part of the Last Night of the Proms. Without things like Rule, Britannia!, what on earth is the point of it?
“I think this just gives everyone a sneak preview of the political correctness that we’d be likely to see from a Labour government and one that basically has very little pride in Britain and its history and its tradition.”
Giles Watling, a member of the Commons culture committee, said: “Rule, Britannia! is traditional and people should be able to perform whatever they like.
“I agree to a great extent that politicians shouldn’t interfere in what people do culturally. But we also mustn’t be prescriptive about certain forms of performance unless, and it is a big unless, it promotes hate and division. We should be less jumpy about these things.”
