On St George’s Day in 2010 I was in Barking watching as a red and white standard was hoisted atop the 13th century church.
In a park below excited kids waved homemade flags and watched a display of jousting as locals wearing England football shirts and red rose button holes enjoyed the spring sunshine.
It was, I wrote later, “the day the people of Barking and Dagenham reclaimed the flag of St George from the far right and used it to bring people together”.
Nick Griffin was standing in the local election in East London and his party, the BNP, had made the flag their emblem, besmirching it with their bigotry.
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And 90% of people had become too scared to fly one for fear of being branded racist.
So when the people of Barking turned out in force for those St George’s Day festivities the message was very clear.
It’s the PEOPLE’S flag and self-serving politicians will never be able to hijack it.
But now Boris Johnson and his party have sparked another flag war by attempting to take ownership of the Union Jack.
They insist it must be flown permanently on all government buildings “as a symbol of liberty, unity and freedom” – while they pursue their own divisive policies and fail to raise standards of living.
Ministers will soon be banned from giving interviews without a large flag behind them or a small one on a lapel.
And No10’s “Union Unit”, tasked with averting Scottish independence, is constantly looking at ways to use the flag like a Tory brand.
But it is already sowing disunity. And objectors branded “unpatriotic” are hitting out at the red, white and blue “flagshaggers”.
NOBODY owns the Union Flag. It belongs to every single Brit and each of us has our own relationship with it.
To some it is an outdated symbol of Empire.
To others it represents duty and sacrifice, laid on the coffins of heroes who’ve served their country
But for many it is simply the language symbol on computer software, a T-shirt logo or Ginger Spice’s iconic dress from the Brits in 1997.
We do not worship our flag in the way the Americans revere their Stars and Stripes.
But it still brings us together at times of national celebration, like the anniversary of VE Day or a royal wedding.
And London went flag-mad during the 2012 Olympics – as a pompous Tory made a previous bid to hijack the Union Jack.
And zip-lining Boris Johnson got hoist with his own petard.
