Despite what the papers say, 'Operation Raise the Colours' is far from organic

Newspapers and broadcasters are playing dumb about the latest 'patriotic' movement.

Previously: Lies, damn lies, and Isabel Oakeshott's statistics

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Let’s start with the opening paragraphs of a story that was on the front page of the Daily Mail website today:

Flag wars have now spread nationwide as a London council ordered staff to tear down St George's Crosses put up by patriotic campaigners.

Tower Hamlets Council previously prided itself on its displays of Palestine banners, but said any British flags attached to council property as part of an online movement called 'Operation Raise the Colours' would be promptly removed.

An “online movement". The report, bylined to a trainee reporter and the Mail’s Home Affairs Correspondent, Rory Tingle (yes, that’s his real name), doesn’t explore that any further. It’s just an organic outpouring by “patriotic campaigners”.

The Daily Telegraph is equally lacking in curiosity about the driving forces behind the so-called ‘movement’:

A second council has vowed to remove English or British flags that have been attached to lampposts by patriotism campaigners.

Tower Hamlets in east London said it would take down the St George’s flags “as soon as possible” after they were put up in recent days as part of the “Operation Raise the Colours” patriotism campaign that has been gathering momentum online.

Head over to The Daily Express and you’ll remain none the wiser:

A senior Tory MP has accused a London council of “absurd national loathing” after announcing it would remove England flags attached to lampposts. Several St George’s flags were raised in Tower Hamlets, east London, as part of a patriotism campaign dubbed “Operation Raise the Colours” which has gained increasing attention online.

One name that’s missing from these reports is Tommy Robinson. One of the catalysts for this “patriotism campaign” is the man formerly known as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Over the weekend, he posted on X…

The message to the councils actively seeking to take down England flags is… Operation raise the colours

Yaxley-Lennon is among other far-right figures, including the ludicrous Sargon of Akkad (Carl Benjamin) and Dan Wootton, who have been pushing the ‘Operation Raise The Colours’ line, exploiting a story about a council in Birmingham removing Union flags from lamp posts which, according to the Daily Telegraph, had been placed there as a “patriotic outpouring”.

The coverage of ‘Operation Raise The Colours’ in the press is one of the most blatant launderings of far-right propaganda in recent months. By describing the rhetoric as “an online movement” that has been “[gaining] increasing attention online”, these reports imply that there is something organic and grassroots happening. These reports make it seem like the flags going up is a natural occurrence, lamp posts in their blossom state.

Now that ‘Operation Raise The Colours’ has entered the mainstream debate via the newspapers, it’s being picked up by broadcasters. Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine Show hosted a debate this morning between the Mirror’s Kevin Maguire and former Tory MP turned Reform mayor for the Greater Lincolnw, Andrea Jenkyns, about the merits of the ‘campaign’. And so the rhetoric of the far-right has again entered the bloodstream of British debate, without the source being discussed at all. It’s just an outpouring of ‘patriotism’ from the general public, and we needn’t investigate it any further.

The Daily Mail, always ready and willing to generate its own news, is going in hard on the story with videos (‘Brits across England raise St George's Cross flags’), coverage of workers removing flags (‘Moment workers tear down St George's Cross…’) and dedicated branding (‘Britain’s flag wars!’). And, of course, the Prime Minister has allowed himself to be dragged into this contrived debate. The Sun, which has opted to call the affair “flag fury”, reports, beneath the headline Starmer wades into flag row after SECOND woke council vows to remove St George’s cross as he backs patriotic locals that:

… the PM’s spokesman said: “I haven't asked him about specific cases, specific councils, but I think the PM has always talked about his pride in being British, the patriotism he feels."

Pressed if he supports people flying the English flag, the spokesman said: “Absolutely - we put up English flags all around Downing Street every time the English football team, women's and men's are out, trying to win games for us.”

Meanwhile, back over at The Daily Telegraph, full-time influencer and part-time shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick rages:

Tower Hamlets council have allowed Palestinian flags to be publicly displayed on lampposts but not the flag of our country.

This absurd national self-loathing must end. This is yet more two-tier bias against the British people. We must be one country united under the Union flag.

This missing element from his rabble-rousing quote is that the Palestinian flags were also removed. The most sensible comment so far comes from a council worker called Tyrone, who was approached by the Daily Mail for comment when he was removing flags from lamposts: “'Palestinian, Jamaican, English whatever, my job is to keep the road clean.”

Just as I was finishing this edition, Matt Goodwin an instalment of his Substack on the topic, in which he claims, “this is very clearly a spontaneous and organic act of resistance against… the ongoing and very extreme policies of mass uncontrolled immigation, broken borders, and housing illegal migrants in the heart of Britain’s commuities…” That illustrates perfectly how this debate will develop. The initial local story about flags being put up in Birmingham has been branded and given a national impetus by far-right actors. That branding has been picked up and stripped of its far-right source by the press and the wider media will now act as if this entire conversation is “spontaneous and organic”.

When activists protest to advocate for positions on which the right-wing press objects, it’s incredibly quick to name and picture the people behind those efforts. But when it agrees with the sentiments, it’ll reframe those calculated actions as “spontaneous and organic”, just a natural occurrence. And voices objecting to yet another weaponisation of the flag? They don’t get a look in.

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