Boris backs taking knee and tells fans: Don’t boo

PM’s U-turn after refusing to condemn supporters

BORIS Johnson has warned England fans not to boo players for taking the knee during the Euros.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said he wanted the public to ‘cheer them on, not boo’ when they make the antiracist protest.

It comes after one of his ministers branded the action ‘divisive’, while other Tory MPs criticised the act as ‘preaching’.

Asked if Mr Johnson backed the gesture yesterday, a No 10 spokesman said: ‘Yes. The Prime Minister respects the right of all people to peacefully protest and make their feelings known about injustices.

‘The Prime Minister wants to see everybody getting behind the team to cheer them on, not boo.’

His stance has toughened since earlier in the week when his spokesman declined to condemn those who booed players, instead urging them to be ‘respectful’.

Taking the knee started in the US in 2016 when American football players protested against police brutality and racism in the country. Following the death of Geroge Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent rise of the Black Lives Matter movement last year, British footballers began adopting the stance before games.

However, some individuals believe there is a link between the movement and Marxism. When players took the knee before England’s friendly matches against Austria and Romania last week, some members of the crowd could be heard booing.

Despite the firmer stance, Downing Street declined to criticise education minister Gillian Keegan who said that the act was ‘creating new divisions’ in sport.

Tory MP Lee Anderson has said he will not watch England’s games at the Euros because of players’ protests. Fellow Conservative Brendan Clarke-Smith also claimed fans are ‘sick and tired of being preached and spoken down to’ and just want to see a game – ‘not to be lectured on morality’. But Downing Street has come under pressure to support the team’s protest and condemn the booing. Former prime minister Gordon Brown urged Mr Johnson to ‘come out publicly and support the England football team and what they do’.

And David Baddiel, the comedian who released the Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home) song with Frank Skinner, accused Mr Johnson of ‘playing a culture war game’. England manager Gareth Southgate has said the players will continue with the protest and said he has ‘a responsibility to the wider community to use my voice, and so do the players’.

Meanwhile, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said it was ‘only right we back our team’, when asked if the PM supported the England squad’s decision to take the knee before matches. ‘The elegant way, quite passionate way, that the England manager Gareth Southgate put this is exactly where the Prime Minister is, where this Government is,’ Mr Zahawi told BBC Radio 4’ s Today programme.

‘I think he articulated the emotions of young men beautifully and I think it’s only right that we back our team.’ Asked about comments that the act was ‘divisive’, Mr Zahawi said: ‘The symbolism of reminding the world of how painful it is to be subjected to the racism... I absolutely back.

‘If you then extrapolate to a Black Lives Matter movement that has a political agenda... that’s a different place, that’s my point, which is why I think we just have to differentiate and rightly back our team.’

The Scotland team had indicated players would not take the knee because the gesture had become ‘diluted’. But reversing the decision yesterday, head coach Steve Clarke said ‘we will stand against racism and kneel against ignorance’.

‘Come out publicly and support them’