New attempt to flood BBC’S Proms night with EU flags

AUDIENCE members at the BBC’S Last Night of the Proms concert tomorrow will each receive European Union flags “to turn the Proms blue and yellow”.

A campaign group called the EU Flags Proms Team said it would be handing out 10,000 cloth EU flags to the 6,000-strong audience outside the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow evening.

Earlier this summer the campaigners raised £4,000 to pay for the flags to give out to members of the audience at the concert, which will be broadcast live on BBC One.

The number of EU flags is twice as many as the campaigners handed out ahead of last year’s Last Night.

A spokesman for the campaign group said the flags would be handed out by volunteers wearing “thank EU for the Music” T-shirts.

He said: “During the Age of Enlightenment, Mozart, Handel and Bach all lived and worked for part of their lives in London.

“Presumably under the Brexit dark ages they would not be welcome. What an appalling backward step for our country. We hope that the EU flags will remind the audience, the musicians and those watching from all over the world that music is a universal language that unites people, breaking down barriers and promoting communication, understanding and peace.”

Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, said he would be contacting former Ukip donor Arron Banks to ask if he would fund a similar number of Union flags for audience members at the concert.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “As for this airy-fairy ‘music crosses all borders’ nonsense, music is also an important part of national symbolism in every part of the world.”

Referring to the campaigners’ claim that Mozart, Handel and Bach would “not be welcome”, he said: “I am sure if Beethoven were alive today he would be horrified to learn that Ode to Joy was being hijacked by a band of crooks in Brussels.”

The Royal Albert Hall spokesman said: “We have no objections to concertgoers bringing flags – including, of course, the EU flag – provided they do not interfere with the smooth running of the festival.”