tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/english-nationalism-17116/articlesEnglish nationalism – The Conversation2017-04-05T09:43:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/757492017-04-05T09:43:32Z2017-04-05T09:43:32ZEaster egg row is an undercooked mess that feeds English nationalism<p>Some people <a href="https://humanism.org.uk/2017/04/04/a-storm-in-an-eggcup-no-the-national-trust-has-not-removed-easter-from-its-egg-hunt/">have dismissed it</a> as a “storm in an egg cup”, but the controversy over Easter eggs has embroiled quintessentially “English” institutions. And unlike most chocolate eggs currently on sale in shops, the story ultimately has rather more inside it than you might imagine. It touches upon issues of fake news, the contested borderlands of secularism and religiosity, and the fluid interplay of state, church and national identity in Brexit Britain.</p>
<p>It started with an <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/03/easter-egg-row-church-england-accuses-national-trust-airbrushing/">article in The Daily Telegraph</a>. This voice of “small c” conservativism (wrongly) accused Cadbury, a venerable confectioner with nearly 200 years of history, and the National Trust, which looks after many of the UK’s finest stately homes, of dropping references to “Easter” from promotional material for their Easter egg hunts and turning a religious festival into a “chocfest”. The article quoted a spokesman for the Church of England saying: “This marketing campaign … highlights the folly in airbrushing faith from Easter.”</p>
<p>The events gained momentum with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/04/theresa-may-condemns-national-trust-for-axing-easter-from-egg-hunt">an accusation by the Archbishop of York</a>, John Sentamu, the second most senior clerical position in the Church of England, that this amounted to “spitting on the grave” of Cadbury’s founder. <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/john-cadbury-easter-egg-hunt-tweet-ether-mcconnell-church-england-national-trust-quaker-not-a7666361.html">One of his descendants would later claim</a> that, as a Quaker, John Cadbury didn’t actually celebrate Easter – but the archbishop’s vivid condemnation had made its mark. </p>
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<p>The the UK’s prime minister, Theresa May, who less than a week after triggering Article 50 might have bigger issues to face, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39487307">declared</a> that:</p>
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<p>The stance they [Cadbury and the National Trust] have taken is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know what they are thinking about frankly. Easter’s very important. It’s important to me. </p>
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<p>Predictably, a range of politicians weighed in on the topic, with <a href="https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/849186652723585024">Nigel Farage declaring</a> that this was part of a battle for Britain’s very soul:</p>
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<p>There are a variety of curious features to the story, the first of which is that its central premise, that Cadbury and the National Trust airbrushed out references to Easter, is actually pretty weak. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/shortcuts/2017/apr/04/war-on-easter-eggs-archbishop-of-york-john-sentamu-cadbury">Numerous media commentaries</a> spotted that the word “Easter” is sprinkled liberally across both organisations’ websites. Indeed, if they really were trying to expunge mentions of the Christian festival from their material, they were doing a pretty dire job of it. In the rapid fire age of social media anger and freely-given accusations of “fake news”, this whole affair may seem like a prime candidate for dismissal as a confected nonsense.</p>
<h2>Defending the faith</h2>
<p>But the controversy intersects with several deep and longstanding tensions. One of these is the question of what is actually meant when Christianity is discussed in England. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/04/easter-eggs-theresa-may-archbishop-christianity">As several pundits have observed</a>, the religious roots of many Easter traditions are decidedly hazy and, in truth, the precise divisions between pagan inheritance, Christian practice and secular appropriation are all difficult to pin down. </p>
<p>One doesn’t have to spend long pondering the vast disconnect between the number of people who <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/articles/religioninenglandandwales2011/2012-12-11">self-identified as Christian in the last census</a> and the number of people who <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/12095251/Church-of-England-attendance-plunges-to-record-low.html">actually go to church</a> to appreciate that religious and secular identities are decidedly fluid. </p>
<p>The Archbishop of York may see the advertising of a chocolate egg hunt as a frontline against secularism to be fought over with passion but, in reality, British society is instead full of tiny and opaque daily skirmishes in which religious language and tradition is expressed or sidelined at varying conscious and unconscious levels.</p>
<h2>Dog-whistling</h2>
<p>But what is clear is that for some political figures an appeal to visions of Christianity under siege is more irresistible than any chocolate. This is because “Christianity under siege” can become profoundly bound up in ideas of “Britishness under siege”. Nigel Farage’s declaration that “we must defend our Judeo-Christian culture and that means Easter” is of course an obvious case. </p>
<p>Leaving aside the casual alignment of the “Judeo-Christian” with what is, in effect, simply Christian, the intervention maps neatly onto a longstanding UKIP policy of positioning themselves as the defenders of Christian values (see, for instance, their “<a href="http://c4m.org.uk/downloads/UKIPChristian_Manifesto-1.pdf">Valuing Our Christian Heritage</a>” campaign during the 2015 general election).</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164043/original/image-20170405-11398-yex5oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164043/original/image-20170405-11398-yex5oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164043/original/image-20170405-11398-yex5oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164043/original/image-20170405-11398-yex5oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164043/original/image-20170405-11398-yex5oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164043/original/image-20170405-11398-yex5oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164043/original/image-20170405-11398-yex5oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Traditionalist: John Sentamu, Archbishop of York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">PA/John Giles/Pool</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>But Conservative politicians have found fertile ground here, too. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/easter-2016-david-camerons-message">In his 2016 Easter address</a>, David Cameron reflected that “we are a Christian country and we are proud of it”, building on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-ministers-king-james-bible-speech">a longstanding rhetorical alignment</a> of “Christian values” and “British values”. Given Theresa May’s history of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/a-stronger-britain-built-on-our-values">fiercely asserting</a> the importance of “British values”, her firm defence of <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/2016-11-30/christians-are-fearful-to-mention-their-faith-in-public/">British Christians who feel marginalised</a> and her mission, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prime-ministers-letter-to-donald-tusk-triggering-article-50">in triggering Article 50</a>, to “restore, as we see it, our national self-determination”, the scene is set for a drama in which actors seen to undermine Christian identity are cast as villains of the piece. </p>
<p>The misfortune for the National Trust and Cadbury (which is now owned by US giant Kraft) was to walk onto the stage at the wrong time – and no doubt they won’t be the last to do so. That the evidence of their misconduct is shaky and the crime’s very theological and sociological coherence is questionable are, in effect, minor details within the greater rhetorical purpose.</p>
<p>The Church of England’s role is more complex, however. The institution has on occasions <a href="http://cofecomms.tumblr.com/post/102433474907/british-values-in-schools">voiced public unease</a> at the nationalistic and exclusionary potentials of extolling “British values”, and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36471794">last year’s row</a> between Farage and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby made it plain that UKIP and the Church of England’s understandings of “Christian heritage” are far from harmonised. </p>
<p>But as the egg controversy shows, undercooked and hyperbolic church interventions against organisations deemed to undermine Christian tradition may, intentionally or not, ultimately end up providing a feast for nationalists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75749/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Tollerton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Once again, Nigel Farage and his conservative allies are rushing to the defence of ‘British values’. Needlessly, as it turns out.David Tollerton, Lecturer in Jewish Studies and Contemporary Biblical Cultures, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/476792015-09-18T05:40:01Z2015-09-18T05:40:01ZOne year on from Scotland’s independence referendum: how to save the union from the unionists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95077/original/image-20150916-6295-elbb31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Unitary we are not</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&searchterm=scottish%20independence&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=219911266">Steve Allen</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/scotland-decides-14-if-yes-wins-what-happens-next-31254">near-death</a> of the United Kingdom as we know it on September 18 2014, unionists have sought to define the purpose of union, Britishness, “what unites us” and “shared values”. </p>
<p>This new unionism is profoundly misguided. Yet neither of our main parties seems aware of it. </p>
<p>The future of the UK hardly featured in Labour’s recent <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-wins-labour-leadership-election-landslide-victory-over-andy-burnham-yvette-cooper-and-liz-kendall-10497416.html">leadership election</a>, while the Conservatives have been <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/09/tory-election-poster-ed-miliband-pocket-snp-alex-salmond">flirting with</a> a new English nationalism.</p>
<p>Union has never been one thing, defined and codified. It takes different forms in different places – think of an Orange march in Ulster and a Conservative garden party in the home counties. For many <a href="https://www.natcen.ac.uk/news-media/press-releases/2014/june/being-british-today/">English people</a>, England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom blend imperceptibly into each other. <a href="http://whatscotlandthinks.org/ssa">For Scots</a>, concepts of Scottishness and Britishness are distinct, some feeling only Scottish and most balancing dual British and Scottish identities. </p>
<p>This makes the UK a state in which the very meaning of nationality differs from one part to another. “Britishness” is not something that sits above particular local and cultural identities but is constituted by them. Unitary nation states like France are characterised by a shared national identity, vision of future and view of the past. As a plurinational state, the UK has none of these. </p>
<p>In these circumstances, it is futile and potentially dangerous to the union to try and define it one way, as the new unionism seeks to do. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/19/labour-ed-miliband-constitutional-convention">Labour</a> and the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-32953249">Liberal Democrats</a> have suggested a constitutional convention, which could only rehearse fundamental differences about the nature of the polity. The unionist parties have presented democracy and liberty as quintessentially British, underpinned by a revived <a href="http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/history/whig_interpretation_history.html">Whig history of progress</a>. </p>
<p>For <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/scottish-independence/scottish-independence-scotland-doesnt-belong-to-the-snp-firedup-gordon-brown-tells-glasgow-9738836.html">the centre left</a>, Britishness underpins concepts of social solidarity and the welfare state. Conservatives <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1490608/conservative-plan-for-british-bill-of-rights">look to</a> a British Bill of Rights.</p>
<h2>The limits of Britishness</h2>
<p>The problem is that in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, many citizens fully share these values but do not feel British. Indeed, these values also underpin their own national projects. Linking civil and social rights to being British ties fundamental human rights to contested national identity and excludes those who do not so identify.</p>
<p>Canada and Spain have wasted decades trying to define the foundations of sovereignty and shared accounts of the future and the past. Eventually the Canadian political class just gave up. Attempts to define Spain as a nation have bedevilled efforts to include Catalans and Basques. The UK used to do these things better, with its acceptance of differentiated national identities and a reluctance to push definitions to the limit. </p>
<p>None of this means that the union is lost. There is <a href="http://www.ippr.org/files/images/media/files/publication/2011/10/devolution-in-practice_introduction_1775.pdf?noredirect=1">an argument</a> about whether devolution poses a threat to social welfare. Gordon Brown <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/my-scotland-our-britain/gordon-brown/9781471137488">argues</a> in favour of uniform levels for key services, for instance. But in practice, devolution has posed no threat to social solidarity or sharing. Such threats have come from <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/675b99c4-2f9b-11e5-91ac-a5e17d9b4cff.html">the centre</a>. </p>
<p>Social values across the UK <a href="http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/scotcen-ssa-report.pdf">have not</a> diverged. There is a consensus on liberal democracy and respect for minorities. There is even <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/citizenship-after-the-nation-state-ailsa-henderson/?isb=9780230296572">broad support</a> for sharing resources according to need, which is more than the current <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/1580787/How-the-Barnett-formula-works.html">Barnett formula</a> does. </p>
<p>The union can even survive the circumstance that substantial proportions of people in Scotland and Northern Ireland want out. Unionists insisted that the Scottish referendum question be a simple Yes/No choice, but the evidence is that <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/scottish-independence-most-scots-back-devo-max-1-3310342">most people sought</a> a reshaped union and that is what both sides ended up offering. Alex Salmond famously <a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13113496.Alex_Salmond__we_must_leave_UK_but_maintain_our_other_unions/">declared that</a> the SNP wanted out of only one of six unions, while the No side <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron-ed-miliband-nick-4265992">offered</a> more devolution. </p>
<h2>Friendly fire</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95079/original/image-20150916-6262-1t1ltju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95079/original/image-20150916-6262-1t1ltju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95079/original/image-20150916-6262-1t1ltju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95079/original/image-20150916-6262-1t1ltju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95079/original/image-20150916-6262-1t1ltju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95079/original/image-20150916-6262-1t1ltju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95079/original/image-20150916-6262-1t1ltju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95079/original/image-20150916-6262-1t1ltju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">EVEL intent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=i2tXwPgl3HuYD3ARVaj0Ag&searchterm=david%20cameron&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=183974723">Frederic Legrand</a></span>
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<p>Following the referendum, the new unionists made two further anti-union gestures. <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband-rules-out-any-5589348">Labour declared</a> the SNP to be ineligible to participate in the government of the UK even through a parliamentary pact. The Conservatives stoked up English nationalism through a <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/02/english-votes-english-laws-what-are-tories-proposing">rush to</a> English votes for English laws and taxes. These do not just contradict unionism, they have helped to destroy the Britain-wide party system that served to integrate central and territorial politics. </p>
<p>The union is changing in profound ways. Scotland has become a distinct political community, Northern Ireland has a fragile peace settlement and Wales is thinking through its political status. The debate in England is only starting. There is a lot of work to be done on the mass of devolution legislation in the pipeline. </p>
<p>Progressives used rightly to lament that the UK still had a pre-modern state system with its monarchy, House of Lords and lack of popular sovereignty. Many of these features remain but the failure to define sovereignty or invest it in a single people might be seen as a positive. The United Kingdom has multiple peoples, and their character and relationships are still being worked out. There may eventually be time for a citizens’ convention and a grand debate on how it all adds up, but it is not now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47679/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Keating does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The union can survive its current period of volatility, but moves like English votes for English laws and ruling out a UK coalition with the SNP could yet bring it down.Michael Keating, Chair in Scottish Politics, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/476662015-09-16T17:24:03Z2015-09-16T17:24:03ZWhy Corbyn’s silent stand through the anthem is a matter of national importance<p>If <a href="https://home.bt.com/news/uk-news/jeremy-corbyn-fails-to-sing-national-anthem-at-battle-of-britain-service-11364003920578">the headlines</a> are to be believed, new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been rude to the Queen and snubbed the veterans involved in the Battle of Britain – all without saying a single word. When it came time to sing the national anthem at a commemorative service, Corbyn stood in what his <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-dismisses-national-anthem-row-as-tittle-tattle-and-demeaning-10503207.html">defenders described</a> as “respectful silence” throughout the song. </p>
<p>Of course, whether or not Corbyn sings is not an important political issue per se – not like his stance on <a href="https://theconversation.com/british-socialism-is-back-but-what-does-jeremy-corbyn-becoming-labour-leader-mean-for-the-rest-of-the-world-47326">Trident or NATO</a>. But the media maelstrom whipped up by his omission suggests that performance of ceremony and ritual matters a great deal in politics, and public life more broadly. And surprisingly little effort has been made to explain why. </p>
<h2>Not the first time</h2>
<p>This is not the first case of its kind: a similar hullaballoo ensued when the then-Welsh secretary, John Redwood, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/16/to-sing-or-not-to-sing-a-history-of-national-anthem-gaffes">mimed the Welsh national anthem</a> in 1993. By contrast, praise was heaped on Kate Middleton for <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/campaigners-sing-kates-praises-over-1855183">learning the Welsh anthem</a> because “she wanted to integrate herself into the community around her Anglesey home”. </p>
<p>Nor are these events particular to the UK. In India, there has been a spate of <a href="http://www.spikemagazine.com/united-you-stand-national-anthem-in-indian-movie-theatres.php">intimidation and violence</a> against those who do not stand up when the national anthem is played in cinemas. </p>
<p>National anthems are expressions of our sense of belonging to a country. Think of the tears often shed by sports people as they stand on victory podiums, facing their flag and singing their national anthem. Anthems resonate with us because we either grow up singing these songs of nationalism or we see them as symbolic of state power. This is not just because of the words that are sung – it’s also because of the feeling of belonging and unity that anthems generate. </p>
<h2>Cause and effect</h2>
<p>But it’s not all bad news for Corbyn. A research programme I directed back in 2011, called <a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/gcrp">Gendered Ceremony and Ritual in Parliament</a> (GCRP), sought to uncover the significance of ceremony, rituals and symbols for political institutions. </p>
<p>We found that political institutions, and their ritualistic performances, have a two-way relationship. Ceremony and ritual have an important effect on the development of institutions and can help substantiate their claims to legitimacy. For example, the rituals surrounding the state opening of parliament on the one hand are a gesture to the history of conflict between the lower and upper houses, and on the other, socialise MPs into accepting and working with each other. Yet, by responding to, contesting, neglecting or rejecting these ceremonial and ritualistic forms of power, citizens and politicians alike can disrupt and even change the rules and norms we take as given. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95083/original/image-20150916-6302-1tijjpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95083/original/image-20150916-6302-1tijjpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95083/original/image-20150916-6302-1tijjpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95083/original/image-20150916-6302-1tijjpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95083/original/image-20150916-6302-1tijjpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95083/original/image-20150916-6302-1tijjpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95083/original/image-20150916-6302-1tijjpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The ceremonial role of the Black Rod, responsible for maintaining buildings, services, and security at the Palace of Westminster, dates from 1522.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Augustus_Clifford_Vanity_Fair_11_October_1873.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People standing in and out of place, debates and disruptions, regulation and subversion in parliament all work together to create what’s known as <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/democracy-in-practice-shirin-m-rai/?K=9781137361905">a representational affect</a>. When Corbyn refused to sing the national anthem, he called into question the legitimacy of the monarchy, but also asserted his own republicanism; the disciplining affect of the storm of criticism can be contrasted with Corbyn wanting to do politics differently – choosing to represent his convictions about the state and monarchy. </p>
<p>This representational affect, I would argue, is at the heart of the current controversy – through one act Corbyn has tried to represent his conviction and the republicans in the UK. That he has failed to convince the majority will lead to further disciplining of any further disruptions – the Labour party has already declared that Corbyn will sing in future such events after all. </p>
<h2>Rebel, rebel</h2>
<p>As a symbol of state power, the national anthem has historically been the target of disruption; my father was first arrested when, as a student leader in British Lahore, he and his comrades threw stones at the cinema screen showing the Union Jack and playing God Save the King. The national anthem of independent India <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/1186.html">became an object of struggle</a> when the nationalist hymn, Vande Matram, was appropriated by the Hindus, in moments of Hindu-Muslim violence after 1926. The refusal of the republican Corbyn to sing in praise of the Queen is another such moment. </p>
<p>Many commentators on radio and television <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tom-conrad2/jeremy-corbyn-national-anthem_b_8144566.html?utm_hp_ref=jeremy-corbyn">have reflected</a> that the controversy over Corbyn’s omission is unnecessary; that it is taking away our attention from the “real issues”. But is it? The research carried out by the GCRP programme concluded that the performance of ceremonies and rituals in parliamentary politics gives us a way to understand changes in political systems, processes and events. Rules themselves <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9248.12154/full">are recognisable</a> in their performance or disruption, after all. The (non)performance of rituals and ceremonies is vital to disrupting old traditions, which often rest on privilege, and <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/regional-and-world-history-general-interest/invention-tradition-2">creating new ones</a> in their place. </p>
<p>If the sedimentation of political power is to be challenged, then the symbolic challenges are as important to the progressive project as changes to rules. They push us to confront our own biases, and reveal the power of elites and disrupt the status quo. </p>
<p>The next challenge for Corbyn, given the outcry about the anthem, will be whether to wear a white poppy or a red one. Aesthetics matter because they <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369801X.2014.882147#.VfmQoZ3BzRY">signal our sentiments</a>. They also matter because they point to a different way of doing politics – and that’s what Jeremy Corbyn is all about. Whether he succeeds in bringing about change of course remains to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shirin Rai has received research funding from the Leverhulme Trust, Economic and Social Research Council and The Nuffield Foundation.</span></em></p>It’s not the first time there’s been an uproar about a national anthem but why does it matter so much?Shirin Rai, Professor of Politics and International Studies, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/420912015-05-21T05:19:44Z2015-05-21T05:19:44ZUKIP didn’t invent English nationalism – it’s been brewing for years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82281/original/image-20150519-30538-183u003.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nationalism: it's a more complex picture than you think.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128012202@N05/16423688899/in/photolist-gvdNmx-8gFS8J-rn3FkN-ecFV1g-ecFVpn-sdMyee-9Chyxm-grMAGt-4LLYik-b9GZDT-4LR9Z3-4LAxxt-r2iGvZ-7kgBGg-nnFF3U-npLBrm-ceWpy9-htsFY-b9GYpe-e3Bqv6-7EiNUJ-5oMEkL-4wbr8K-6Nfagq-4Hma76-4jqFZc-62rozo-7VdbxJ-56m9fD-4Hmbre-ejS6n8-5zGiS5-jRZ6Y6-nkhh7S-6NaYs6-6cND6a-7psQdt-6xPHU8-bNN4GP-6kAqXz-3yc4L7-7KvNqS-5nU3SP-2cvW8-9dvUoX-tUnZg">Travel Junction</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most striking consequences of the recent election has been the sudden shift of attention onto the spectre of a burgeoning English nationalism. Various talking heads have seen intimations of it in the strength of UKIP’s performance in England, the apparent impact of the Conservatives’ relentless focus upon the prospect of SNP involvement in a putative government on southern voters and the Tory focus on English votes for English laws. </p>
<p>It has even been suggested that “shy English nationalists” are the explanation for why the polling companies <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-shy-english-nationalists-who-won-it-for-the-tories-and-flummoxed-the-pollsters/">got the election so badly wrong</a>.</p>
<p>So the notion of an English nationalism – one of the great bogeymen of British politics – is once again the topic of the day. But there is a real danger that simplistic and misleading characterisations of its genesis and character take hold. This is a phenomenon that seems to lend itself, almost without exception, to the twin perils of overstatement and underestimation. </p>
<p>Senior Labour figures were quick to <a href="http://www.policy-network.net/pno_detail.aspx?ID=4904&title=Labours-35-per-cent-strategy-lost-it-the-election">blame the party’s defeat</a> on the way it was supposedly squeezed between Scottish and English nationalism. And it has been widely suggested that a mood of English resentment was orchestrated by David Cameron in the aftermath of the Scottish Referendum result, signalling the Conservatives’ readiness to “play politics with the Union”, putting the party’s electoral prospects before the integrity of the UK.</p>
<p>These judgements run the risk of overstating the coherence of English nationalism. They also reflect a misapprehension of the shift in national mood that has happened among many English people over the past two decades, and rest upon crude assumptions about what motivates voters. In fact, if you want to understand Labour’s <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2015/05/09/three-more-years-of-cameron-but-it-will-be-a-rocky-road-ahead-2/">electoral disaster</a>, you need an appreciation of perceptions of economic competence and leadership capability, along with ideas about national decline, cultural anxiety and a growing sense of shared English interests. </p>
<p>The inability of the Labour Party to grasp the importance of various questions of identity, democracy and constitution reflects one of the root sources of its inadequate response to new currents of national sentiment in Scotland and England.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82271/original/image-20150519-30533-1btjx7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82271/original/image-20150519-30533-1btjx7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82271/original/image-20150519-30533-1btjx7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82271/original/image-20150519-30533-1btjx7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82271/original/image-20150519-30533-1btjx7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82271/original/image-20150519-30533-1btjx7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82271/original/image-20150519-30533-1btjx7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Labour just doesn’t get it.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Labour was no victim to nationalism</h2>
<p>The Conservatives’ attack on Labour’s relationship with the SNP actually played upon long-established concerns among significant parts of the English electorate about Labour’s approach to fiscal policy. The party responded with repeated, implausible denials that it would come to some kind of arrangement with the SNP. </p>
<p>This defensive stance carried echoes of Labour’s inability to muster a credible response to the posing of the English question by the Conservatives after the referendum. Indeed, rather than blaming these different nationalisms as causes for its defeat, Labour would do better to consider the strategic errors it made in both of these contexts. </p>
<p>It may well be that nationalism was diminishing in significance in both England and Scotland before and during the election. Research in Scotland certainly <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/there-was-no-rise-in-scottish-nationalism-understanding-the-snp-victory/">suggests this was the case</a>. And in England, while there does appear to have been an intensification of nationalism among some parts of the electorate in the <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/there-was-no-rise-in-scottish-nationalism-understanding-the-snp-victory/">run-up to the Scottish referendum</a>, a combination of the rise of UKIP and the prospect of Scotland leaving the UK may well have shifted some away from nationalist positions. </p>
<p>Polling during the referendum suggests that support for the UK grew over time, and the number of those in England supporting the UK’s membership of the EU <a href="http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/wgc/files/2014/10/Taking-England-Seriously_The-New-English-Politics.pdf">has also risen of late</a>.</p>
<h2>Long-brewing nationalism</h2>
<p>But the notion that the Tories sparked a nationalist surge among the English also ignores the considerable body of evidence pointing to the rising political significance of this vein of national sentiment over a much longer period – and this is where the dangers of under-estimation become relevant. </p>
<p>The Conservatives did not conjure up or politicise English nationalism. They were simply more astute in reading the changing national mood than their political opponents – and swift to sense Labour’s fundamental difficulties in this area. The notion that the Tories <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-political-party-is-threatening-the-union-and-its-not-the-snp-40507">illegitimately mobilised Englishness</a> grossly overstates the impact that politicians have upon public attitudes and perceptions of national interest. </p>
<p>The endlessly repeated accusation that Ed Miliband would be unable to stop the SNP from using its position to win significant, unfair benefits for the Scots worked because of already existing currents of sentiment and resentment, and their intimate connection with an emerging sense of collective English interest. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82278/original/image-20150519-30561-vrvfyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82278/original/image-20150519-30561-vrvfyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82278/original/image-20150519-30561-vrvfyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82278/original/image-20150519-30561-vrvfyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82278/original/image-20150519-30561-vrvfyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82278/original/image-20150519-30561-vrvfyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82278/original/image-20150519-30561-vrvfyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This only worked because Labour allowed it to.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Conservative Party HQ</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>English nationalism was invented neither by UKIP or the Conservatives. It is in fact a longer-range, multifaceted trend, which in all probability began during the 1990s. Some researchers see the mid-late 2000s as a key moment when political forms of English identity became apparent. The British Social Attitudes Survey, for instance, tracks a <a href="http://www.ippr.org/publications/is-an-english-backlash-emerging-reactions-to-devolution-ten-years-on">growing sense of irritation and unease</a> among the majority of English adults about how England fares within the post-devolved constitution in those years. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/wgc/files/2014/10/Taking-England-Seriously_The-New-English-Politics.pdf">Future of England survey</a>, conducted during 2014, highlights a strengthening relationship between English identification and political allegiance, but found that English nationalism was much more notable among UKIP supporters than those favouring the Conservatives, whose commitment to Englishness was not much higher than that exhibited by Labour supporters. </p>
<p>The most marked cleavage in terms of attitudes towards an English sense of identification is between those who live outside London – who are much more inclined to see themselves as English — and those who live in the capital and the south-east, for whom Britain remains a stronger point of national orientation. The markedly different feelings about national identity of many ethnic minority communities, with a large and growing black and minority ethnic population in London, is also a significant factor here, as many from minority backgrounds remain wary of an English nationalism. </p>
<p>Differences in class are also important; an English identity is most strongly felt, according to some surveys, by anxious and aspirational voters in the “squeezed middle” whom Labour notably failed to win to their side at the election. </p>
<h2>What is English nationalism?</h2>
<p>But it is an overstatement to characterise the English majority as “nationalist” in its orientation. About <a href="http://www.ippr.org/publications/is-an-english-backlash-emerging-reactions-to-devolution-ten-years-on">one in five consistently hold beliefs</a> which could reasonably be characterised in this way – and this is a pool of opinion and sentiment in which UKIP swims ever more confidently. </p>
<p>The majority continue to see themselves as both English and British, are in favour of the continuation of the Union and are also increasingly likely to think that the English are not treated fairly within the current settlement, and ought to be given more opportunity to celebrate their own nationhood. </p>
<p>While there are undoubtedly streaks of grievance and resentment in this worldview, there are very few indications that it corresponds to the kind of little Englandism that rejects all entanglements with the wider world, or craves a sundering of the Union.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82286/original/image-20150519-30561-c8mt8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82286/original/image-20150519-30561-c8mt8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82286/original/image-20150519-30561-c8mt8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82286/original/image-20150519-30561-c8mt8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82286/original/image-20150519-30561-c8mt8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82286/original/image-20150519-30561-c8mt8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82286/original/image-20150519-30561-c8mt8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82286/original/image-20150519-30561-c8mt8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hobler/11910787005/in/photolist-j9vU1D-dQ8G37-dTbik6-3K7vqJ-dYGhMi-iHXksP-6Gak6k-hc4Mjv-gy41fY-Ji7m8-p4Pdug-3iGHTB-a6sb76-6PPcxc-evuBh2-8vaTBS-6Q6zKy-6rHXGf-4j1VJb-6c3mio-6stzV9-8jeZwc-6QrrqG-6gWZ8m-7ZWR9N-6rs5GJ-dAZqD7-cvhKt5-7AhRHA-duKLC4-HvSLr-8MeyT9-6EWkG4-2xHMWh-8xKPAS-7B3MZo-6yVinB-7ZTuUR-pYfhbR-nTaNns-6cgytV-a6QKP-8dgbV9-nM8iNc-a37Vz8-7ZTt8n-7ZTDdg-hY9Ef-7ZTAex-7ZTxy4">Romano</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Blanket characterisations of English nationalism are misleading in two additional respects. First they sustain the fear that any such expression is inherently illiberal and regressive – the imagined opposite to a constitutional Britishness. Yet there is very little evidence to suggest a consistent or entrenched relationship between right-wing political beliefs and an <a href="http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199608614.do">inclination to identity as English</a>. </p>
<p>There are, however, myriad examples from the world of the arts, popular culture and public discourse of England being depicted in all sorts of ideological colours. Jez Butterworth’s hit play <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2011/oct/25/why-i-love-butterworths-jerusalem">Jerusalem</a>, P.J.Harvey’s award winning album <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Let-England-Shake-PJ-Harvey/dp/B004IXJEWK">Let England Shake</a> and Graham Swift’s collection <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/England-Other-Stories-Graham-Swift/dp/1471137392">England and Other Stories</a> can hardly be dismissed as exercises in conservatism or nostalgia. They are among numerous texts that offer different kinds of <a href="http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199579389.do">representative claim</a> upon England.</p>
<p>Some of these speak the language of democracy, rights and popular sovereignty – for instance those campaigners for a renewal of a radical English constitutionalism that harks back to the spirit of Magna Carta. Others are advanced in more exclusivist, angry and populist ways, including some of the arguments advanced by UKIP. It is ultimately in the contest between these different kinds of claim that the political character of English nationhood will be determined. </p>
<p>In a situation where the idea of creating a more devolved UK has become mainstream, the question of how English identity is political expressed and imagined is one that liberal political parties can no longer afford to ignore.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42091/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Kenny does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conservative political parties did not conjure up English nationalism, they capitalised on a growing trend.Michael Kenny, Director of the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.