The remarks made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on 22 April 2025.
Maro, it’s fantastic to see you up here and to hear you talk about the pride of pulling on an England jersey.
I think it’s something we’ve dreamt of doing all our lives, though I only got to pulling on a replica.
But it’s really important, that sense of pride that you described by the simple act of putting on a shirt, a sports shirt, and I think that pride and joy is hugely important.
And as for your reminder of St George I’ve got a few ideas about what we could feed the dragon.
But look it’s amazing just to look out and see so many people here, Tony Adams here in his red suit.
He won’t remember this, but Vic and I drove along the Cotswolds years ago and he was out for a walk and I screeched to halt and insisted on shaking his hand, so it’s great to see you again.
But it’s a really fantastic group of people and thank you so much for coming here to be in Downing Street with us.
This is where I work and live just upstairs but it’s also your building and I’m really keen to get across this sense that this isn’t just a remote place where the government is, but that we are here to serve our communities and serve our country.
So this is your place just as much as it is mine, it’s your right to be here and my privilege to invite you here as guests, so you are very welcome, to test and push us and to tell us what your ideas are and have the opportunity to put your fingerprints on everything we’re doing as a government.
And of course – as a proud Englishman, this is a particularly special occasion: St. George’s Day. And it’s the eve of the day to revel in all the wonder and joy of our country.
You see that reflected in this reception and I think it’s one of the biggest we’ve had here in Downing Street running all the way through to the rooms at the back with some fantastic people.
We’ve got Pimms, we’ve got English sparkling wine and we’ve got our brilliant showcases with Melton Mowbray pork pies, Lancashire Eccles cakes, Bakewell tarts and gin from Exmoor distillery. We were going to have Morris Dancers too at one point, but we’re saving them for the next Cabinet away day instead.
Because one of the great things about this country is we have so many wonderful traditions and so many individual, personal reasons that make us proud to be English.
For me – it always starts with football of course. I was there at Wembley in Euro 1996. I was there at Wembley in 2021 and I was there also last year when we went to Germany, where we came so close again.
But that still makes the nation proud. Though whatever it is, whether it’s football, festivals, cricket, Shakespeare – his birthday tomorrow of course, or our music – from Elgar to the Rolling Stones, our art – from Tracy Emin to Turner or our universities, inventions and innovations – the world’s first vaccine was an incredible moment, the world wide web, the computer and of course our landscape.
Everyone in this room will have their favourite spots. Whether it’s rocky coves and beaches in Cornwall or the incomparable beauty of the Lake District.
My late mum struggled to walk, so she decided to have all her holidays in the Lake District where the only thing you can do is walk, but that summed her up.
And we still go there with our children now. But you also have the Chalk Hills of the North Downs where I grew up: this is a beautiful country, rich with pride, potential and creativity.
It’s also a country where a person like me who grew up working class and a person like the previous occupant, Rishi Sunak, an English Hindu, can both become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. That for me is something I think we should always be proud of and never take for granted.
Because, while this is a day for celebration, we cannot be under any illusions that there is a never-ending fight for our flag and what it represents. I’ll put it this way, when I was standing in the old Wembley in 1996 – not many people sat down that day, it felt like that whole tournament embodied the best of our country.
Yet now – there are people trying to sow division in our communities, people taking the red and white of our flag, like the bunting downstairs, with them, as they throw bricks at businesses…
The day after the terrible Southport incident last year, I went up to take the opportunity to shake the hands of the first respondents of police and ambulance workers, you’ll now have seen what they all faced.
As I simply said thank you, almost all said to me they were just doing their job, but of course they weren’t, and it’s just incredible to think about what they were doing, and they were all back in work the next day to help clear up.
By the time I got back to London that very day, we had people throwing bricks at the very same police officers I was shaking hands with.
And that’s why the battle for our flag is really important because that is what happened and that was only last year. So, we have to fight for our flag and for our values.
Because it was the aftermath of the riots that showed what it means to be English. It marked the coming together of a country.
People who got together the morning after, all across Britain with shovels, brooms, and brushes, to clean up their communities. Rebuilding walls, repairing damage and it’s in that spirit that we reclaim our flag and that was incredibly uplifting to go from rioting to people coming out to do what they could for our country.
So that’s what we must do for our country, for English decency, honour and fairness. Wrench it out of the hands of those who want to divide this nation and reclaim it for good.
Because that flag doesn’t belong to me as Prime Minister or any group or political party and that is the point.
It belongs to all of us to England, in all its wonder and diversity. And we should be proud of that flag, we must never concede it, because it is an expression of our values and our patriotism.
And patriotism – for me is about serving the country we love. That’s what drove me when I was Chief Prosecutor, serving people who’d faced appalling crimes and injustice. People like John and Penny Clough who are with us today – they lost their daughter in an appalling crime and came to see me many years ago in their journey for justice and have become friends of mine.
And it’s what drives me today – when I say I want to make working people’s lives better.
It’s at the heart of this Government, what’s written through our Plan for Change: putting money in people’s pockets; getting public services back on their feet so they serve the public in the way that people deserve; making our streets safer so we can all enjoy our communities; building the homes working people need, which are an aspiration and opportunity for so many; breaking down barriers to opportunity and honouring Britain’s veterans – by making sure there are “homes for heroes”.
As we also protect our national security with the biggest defence investment since the end of the Cold War.
We know this won’t be easy and we’re living through a time of uncertainty which I’m sure everyone in this room can feel that over the past six months. Whether that’s through defence, national security or the global economy.
But moments like this, as we come together to celebrate St. George’s Day are a reminder of all our nation has been through over generations and the values that have endured.
The creativity, resilience and good will and humour that have remained a constant through the ages and will endure for generations to come.
So, let’s be proud of our national identity, let’s pay tribute to all those who keep our country going from the generations who laid down their lives to keep us free, to those serving our country today. Our armed forces, our NHS staff, our teachers and the small businesses who serve their community.
Let’s remember our shared history, our shared inheritance and the values that have endured. And most of all, let’s hear it for England and for St. George! Thank you very much.
