Leading lights in the Anglican church are pushing back against the far-right activist Tommy Robinson and his band of “patriots”. At a time when the majority of politicians and swathes of the media are consciously or unconsciously pushing anti-immigration narratives, this resistance shows immense courage.
Robinson’s “army” has been using flags to build up emotional support for their “unite the kingdom” project. (That kingdom has no place for non-white people.) Now he and his hoods are organising a carol singing event “to put Christ back into Christmas”.
Robinson “found” Christianity the last time he was in prison. Being canny, I think he is using that identification to help detoxify his brand of politics.
The Church of England’s Leeds diocese has just launched a bold poster campaign to counter Robinson’s latest divisive tactics. Among the messages are “Outsiders Welcome” and “Christ has always been in Christmas”. Last September, various Christian leaders signed an open letter which said: “Any co-opting of or corrupting the Christian faith to exclude others is unacceptable.”
The Rev Arun Arora, Bishop of Kirkstall in Leeds and the Church of England’s co-lead on racial justice, has now issued the strongest of statements: “We must confront and resist the capture of the English language and symbols by populist forces seeking to exploit the faith for their own ends… as we approach Christmas and recall the holy family’s own flight as refugees, we reaffirm our commitment to work alongside others in working for an asylum system that is fair, compassionate and rooted in the dignity of being human.” Wow.
The institution has come a long way since the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Back then, Afro-Caribbean, African and Asian believers were systemically discriminated against by both main Christian denominations and treated as if they had brought pestilence into the house of Christ.
Alice P, now 90, originally from St Lucia, once told me of white people holding hankies to their noses and moving away from her when she went to an Anglican church in south London. Black churches were created so people like Alice had a safe and genial space to pray. She thought those days were gone. So did most fair-minded, egalitarian, diverse Britons who now see the country fast becoming openly racist and terrifyingly ultra-nationalist.
After the Second World War, the far right was efficaciously kept on the fringes of British society. It is now brazenly mainstreaming, building up numbers, disrupting villages, towns and neighbourhoods in big cities. This growing tribe hates migrants, “third world” settlers, their children and grandchildren, native Brits who are culturally open and those who have mixed race families.
In their eyes, the new order of Britishness is ethnically and imaginatively narrow, proudly xenophobic. The isles are reclaimed for rightful citizens, whites only. Poppies are ubiquitous in November. Neo-Nazis wear them with pride. The contradiction raises no debate.
How did this happen? As it always does: bad people try to take over, good people capitulate. In recent years, behaviours that should be intolerable in respectable democracies became acceptable, because, you know, the people wanting to set fire to asylum seekers or abusing Britons of colour are frustrated about their life chances.
Nigel Farage’s Reform party relentlessly iterates that jingoistic narrative and exploits it with consummate dexterity. The two other main parties abjectly follow Reform’s agenda to pull back lost voters. So they mouth increasingly hostile speeches and promise tougher and tougher actions against asylum seekers, new migrants and non-white citizens. The betrayal of loyal, decent Labour and Tory supporters is treacherous and morally obscene.
You need to know how terrified and insecure minorities are currently feeling. Many are giving up on the country. I find that scary and immensely sad. A total of 257,000 British nationals are now thought to have left the country last year – 180,000 more than the initial estimate of just 77,000. A significant number of those were of ethnic minority backgrounds, many of them young. Racism and the anti-immigration atmosphere were significant factors.
According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the number of overseas professionals coming to the UK is collapsing. Between April and September, 6,321 nurses and midwives from abroad came to practice in the UK, compared with 12,534 who did so in the same period in 2024. Rising racism and changes to immigration rules are blamed for the fall – the inevitable result of the political pusillanimity I describe above.
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Other public and private sector services are facing staff shortages too. Are Robinson’s motley patriots going to fill the gaps? Of course not. Too busy putting up flags, intimidating “foreigners”, and presumably praying in churches.
These bad faith actors, once rightly marginalised, now dominate our country because other powerful agents and institutions facilitated them. The Church of England, the heart of the establishment, breaking that sordid consensus, could be a turning point. They will be attacked. I hope they stand firm.
This Christmas, I will go to the local Anglican church to show my gratitude. All of us who believe in an open, multiracial nation should do so, too.
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