Reform UK also wants a “patriotic curriculum,” and to see the Union Jack flown.
LONDON — Reform UK said Thursday it would mandate every school in England to display a portrait of King Charles III and to fly the Union Jack if it wins power.
In an announcement timed with England’s saint day, the right-wing populists — currently topping British polls — said they would make funding available for flagpoles, and require schools to observe St George’s Day.
Nigel Farage’s party promised it would also introduce a “patriotic curriculum” requiring at least 60 percent of assessed history content to focus on Britain, with pupils required to study the Magna Carta, the English Civil War and the Enlightenment.
“Tory and Labour governments have failed a generation of young people with a substandard curriculum that undermines academic rigour and national identity in favour of promoting their mass migration agenda,” Suella Braverman, Reform UK’s education spokesperson, said in a statement.
Farage has been critical of Britain’s monarch in the past. Before Charles became king, the Reform UK chief branded him an “eco-loony” over his support for tackling climate change.
He has since defended the outburst, telling the BBC ahead of the 2024 general election: “He wasn’t the King then, and I can’t speak ill of the monarch obviously.”
As education policy is devolved, the Westminster decision would apply to English schools, Reform said — but the party has promised if it controls governments in Scotland and Wales it would introduce similar policies.
Patriotic policy making
It is not the first time Reform UK has promoted symbols of patriotism in the run-up to an election. Ahead of local polls last May the party pledged to ban all flags except the Union Jack, St George’s Cross and county flags on public buildings.
Last summer national flags started appearing on flyovers and lampposts across the country, driven by an online movement titled “Raise the Colours.” It came amid a summer of anti-migrant protests.
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, told ITV Thursday that any fears the Union Flag is being used to exclude people are because “we are not celebrating our flag.” It is up to the vast majority of people to “celebrate our flag and put it in the places that it belongs,” he said.
Labour politicians have come unstuck over flag-waving in the past.
Labour’s Emily Thornberry resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in 2014 after posting a picture of a house flying English flags during an important by-election — a move that was branded as snobbish at the time.
Labour politicians insist they want to use the flag as a symbol of unity. In an X post on Thursday Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the St George’s flag “stands for unity over hatred and decency over division,” adding “some try to hijack our flag to spread hate, I reject their plastic patriotism.”
Home Office Minister Mike Tapp said Britain’s history represents “symbols of our resilience, pride and our unwavering resolve” and “we have so much to be proud of.”