How politicians proved the Union flag is a crime against fashion

The National

7 days ago

TO offer a little respite from the horrors, I'd like to take the opportunity this week to discourse a little on Lee Anderson's togs.
Anderson, Reform UK's chief whip (for the two MPs that aren't him or the leader), took to social media this week to show off his 'beautiful' new jacket.
You are probably already ahead of me, but reader, it was not beautiful.
Put simply, it was an abomination. It was supposed to be covered in the Union Jack, which as we all know is an amalgam the flags of England, Scotland and Saint Patrick's Saltire. Presumably he was making a big statement in the wake of one girl being barred from school over her Union flag dress.
It is unclear whether Anderson is aware that it was not in fact, the Union flag. Because it was lacking Saint Patrick's Saltire, the flag that Anderson was sporting was actually the flag of the Kingdom of Great Britain, a country which has not existed since 1800 and included parts of Germany as much as it did Ireland.
And even if you generously afforded that Anderson may have been able to wrap his head around that distinction, both the red and the blue were the wrong shade.
It is unclear whether it was Anderson's intention to come out in favour of a unified Ireland which was included in a personal but not political union with Great Britain.
(Image: Getty)
Perhaps it was a threat to the Germans – he is after all very much a 'two world wars and a world cup' kind of guy – that a future prime minister Nigel Farage (above) would have his eyes on retaking the Electorate of Hanover. Frankly, we could do with some of that German GDP.
It may simply be that Anderson, the longest-serving Reform MP in the Commons, just isn't very bright and didn't notice that the frankly hideous jacket he'd bought wasn't what he thought it was.
The Twitter/X menswear guy 'derek guy' – if you know who that is, you need to get out more – took what could have been a relatively relaxed exercise in taking the piss and turned Anderson's jacket into a source of inspiration for a reflection on the hollowness of modern, so-called patriotism.
He reckoned that Anderson's jacket was made by a company called Dobell, which makes its clothes in Turkey, adding: 'I don't think there's anything wrong with buying clothes made abroad (I believe in free trade). However, I think it's strange when people rail against 'globalism' and free trade, while benefiting from these things. Talk is cheap; one should put their money where their mouth is.'
Still, it was hardly worse than Scottish Secretary Ian Murray's outing in similar garb many moons ago.
He was asked about it back in 2020 when he made his doomed pitch to be Keir Starmer's deputy and said he'd tweeted the picture out 'after a few ciders'.
(Image: PA)
Murray told Sky News: 'This has followed me around for years, It was a bit of fun. I was at Glastonbury – and there was a company there called Opposuits who go to Glastonbury every year. You can get a picture of your wedding, a TV test card, or day-glo orange [on the suit] – I was leafing through and they asked my size, and that was the only 42 they had, so I tried it on.
'A photograph was taken and I said that photo should never go anywhere but of course at Glastonbury after a few ciders you tend to be a little looser with your Twitter feed and it's haunted me since.'
A likely story. At least Murray's outfitter managed to get the flag right.
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