England players' racist abuse a 'wake-up' call for Tory Government, writes Michael Settle

Mr Mings accused Ms Patel – of Indian heritage who has herself been the target of racist abuse – of “stoking the fire” of racism and then “pretending” to being offended by the subsequent racist attacks on Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.  

Taking the knee goes back to the 1960s and the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, who used it as a sign of peace; it was popularised as an anti-racism gesture by American footballer Colin Kaepernick in 2016. Some Conservatives have objected to it because it is linked with Black Lives Matter organisation, whose critics say is anti-capitalist and advocates defunding the police.

But this misses the point, wilfully or not. Footballers do not take the knee because they are Marxists wanting to take funds away from the police but to show solidarity against racism not just in football but across society at large. Yet people have booed them from the stands, believing they are taking some kind of ultra left-wing stance. They are not.

During PMQs exchanges, dominated by the racism row, Keir Starmer accused Boris Johnson of promoting a culture war.

He pointed out how last month, when asked to condemn the booing of footballers taking the knee, the PM’s spokesman replied: “’On taking the knee, specifically, the Prime Minister is more focused on actions rather than gestures.’” A week later, the Labour leader referred to how Ms Patel, who when asked about footballers taking the knee, declared: “’I just don’t support people participating in that type of gesture politics.’”

Sir Keir believed he had caught out the PM and the Home Secretary, telling Mr Johnson how the public understood what was really going on. “The Government has been trying to stoke a culture war and they’ve realised they’re on the wrong side and now they’re hoping nobody has noticed.”

Why else, he asked, would a Tory MP boast he would not watch England during the tournament because its footballers took the knee or another Conservative backbencher suggest Mr Rashford spent too much time playing politics when, Sir Keir noted, the Manchester United star was trying to “feed children who the Government won’t”.

Mr Johnson hit back, emphasising his Government’s “total support for our fantastic team and I support them in the way that they show solidarity with their friends who face racism”. He stressed: “We made it absolutely clear that no-one should boo the England team.”

Indeed, the Government, having been behind the curve, is now intent on leaping ahead by announcing fresh penalties for anyone caught being racially abusive with football banning orders set to be expanded to cover online racism.

“I utterly condemn and abhor the racist outpourings that we saw on Sunday night,” declared the PM.

“So, what we are doing is taking practical steps to ensure the football banning regime is changed so that if you are guilty of racist abuse online on football, then you will not be going to the match. No ifs, no buts, no exemptions, no excuses.”

It is unclear when the new measure – for England but it could well be replicated in Scotland – will come into effect. It will also sit alongside the Government’s Online Harms Bill, which will seek to get the tech giants to act promptly to remove any racist web-posting.

Mr Johnson told MPs: “In addition to changing the football banning order regime, last night I met representatives of Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and I made it absolutely clear to them that we will legislate to address this problem in the Online Harms Bill.

“And unless they get hate and racism off their platforms they will face fines amounting to 10% of their global revenues; we all know they have the technology to do it.”

However, fearing how his party was on the wrong side of the argument in the racism row, Mr Baker went on the airwaves this morning to urge a change of tack from the Tories.

“It is a wake-up call to the Conservative Party of just how powerful our words are when we navigate these issues,” declared the Buckinghamshire MP.

“We have to get alongside those players who are taking the knee and understand they are not saying defund the police, they are not anti-capitalist. What they are doing is saying ‘we suffer racism’.”

Refusing to criticise Ms Patel, he explained: “It is one thing to boo the referee with a marginal decision but it is another to boo brave, black players, who are saying ‘no to racism’ and bravely going out on the field to take a knee and say we are expressing our solidarity with those who are suffering racism.”

Mr Baker noted how “gestures are extremely powerful” and added: “What I am saying to my colleagues is that we have to confront the reality of how we are sometimes heard, even by people on our own side.”

And yet during PMQs when Mr Mings’s name was mentioned, a Tory colleague shouted out “Labour member”. Needless to say, Labour MPs were outraged at the attempt to play party politics with the issue of racism.

Rosena Allin-Khan, the Shadow Health Minister, said the outburst was “shocking” while Angela Rayner, the Opposition’s deputy leader, tweeted: “If the Tories gave a toss about racism they would suspend the MP who heckled and shouted about[Mr Mings] from membership of the [Conservative benches]. Racism isn’t about party politics. Disgusting.”

There is no doubt that if England had won the football tournament – which in no small part would have been down to the performance of its black players – then those same people racially abusing the likes of Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford would have been singing their praises.

The heartfelt response to the defacing of the Rashford mural in Manchester should give us all hope that for the overwhelmingly majority of people racism has no place in our society; that the hateful sentiments of a very few will be obliterated by the kindness and compassion of the very many.