BBC Proms row as it plays Rule, Britannia without words

Government accuses Corporation of ignoring tradition as it announces Last Night anthem will not be sung

‘Confident, forwardlooking nations don’t erase their history, they add to it’

THE BBC last night defied the Government by announcing that Rule, Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory would not be sung at this year’s Last Night of the Proms.

Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, had warned the BBC not to “erase history” by dropping the songs amid a row over colonialism, while Boris Johnson had told the corporation it was a mistake to target the “symbols” rather than the “substance” of such issues.

But the BBC ignored them, effectively censoring the traditional anthems by choosing to play orchestral versions only, with no soloist singing the lyrics. With no audience because of coronavirus restrictions, there will be no one to sing along to them either.

One government source described the decision as “incredible” and signalled that ministers were taken aback by the decision.

Last night, another government source said ministers were “despairing” at what had become “a farce”.

Tory MPS accused the broadcaster of failing to understand the context of the songs, adding that the country should “take pride” in them. Michael Fabricant said: “I’m very sad. Rule, Britannia, the finale of a wonderful opera, is an evocation of British freedoms in the face of Napoleonic tyranny.”

The BBC said it had decided to “reinvent” the finale of the Proms season “in this extraordinary year” so that it could “respect the traditions and spirit of the event while adapting to very different circumstances at this moment in time”.

A source said: “There is no ban and we hope to return to normal next year.”

The row began after the Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska, who is conducting the Last Night on Sept 12, and David Pickard, the BBC Proms director, discussed changing the repertoire to reflect the international debates about racism. The line “Britons never, never, never shall be slaves” had caused concern among some critics in light of Britain’s role in the slave trade, as had the colonial overtones of Land of Hope and Glory.

The omission raises the question of whether the BBC has now banned the two songs for good in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The BBC insisted it would not be the first time the songs had been played without lyrics, but could not specify when it last happened. The last time no soloist sang Rule, Britannia was 2007, but a choir performed it. The Last Night has been televised since 1947.

But this failed to satisfy Tory MPS, who expressed surprise at the BBC’S decision. Andrea Leadsom, the former Cabinet minister, tweeted: “Seriously? Has the Beeb totally lost touch?”

Earlier, Downing Street likened the row to the controversy over the toppling of statues with links to slavery and colonialism, saying the Prime Minister believed then, as now, that “we need to tackle the substance of the issues, not the symbols”.

Mr Dowden said earlier that he had raised his concerns with the BBC at the potential removal of the “highlights” of the Proms. Mr Dowden said: “Confident, forward-looking nations don’t erase their history, they add to it.”

A source close to Mr Dowden last night said he had “made his views clear”, leaving little doubt that he did not agree with the BBC’S decision.

The BBC insisted the event would still be “patriotic” because it would include a new arrangement by Errollyn Wallen of Jerusalem, as well as the national anthem. It expressed regret over the “unjustified personal attacks” on Ms Stasevska, saying: “As ever, decisions about the Proms are made by the BBC, in consultation with all artists involved.”

The BBC’S decision to dispense with the words to Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia, and to proceed with a half-hearted orchestral arrangement for the Last Night of the Proms, is as extraordinary as it is wrong-headed. The corporation says it is reinventing the Last Night, respecting the traditions and spirit of the event, while adapting to the circumstances of the time. Most of the public will instead see this as the broadcaster caving to pressure from far-left activists who have long loathed this uniquely British tradition.

The idea that this was a change forced on the BBC by the Covid pandemic does not bear scrutiny. Reports initially suggested that the Covidcompliant orchestra might be too small to perform the songs, or that there would not be enough singers present to give a suitably rousing rendition. Both of these problems, however, would be eminently surmountable if there was a will to do so.

Instead, this is the BBC using the pretext of Covid to do what many in the corporation have long been itching to do: remove elements from the Last Night that they deem to be embarrassingly jingoistic and laudatory of imperialism. In an all-too-typical cultural cringe before those who dislike our country and despair at our history, they appear to have accepted without question the argument that Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia are problematic, and must be stripped of their words to save liberal blushes.

But these songs are not outrageous relics of an imperial past. Yes, they are products of their time, but they are also much-loved traditions that reflect and inspire a very British form of patriotism. Who, in their right mind, could possibly think that “Britons never shall be slaves” is meant to imply that other people should be? Or that anyone stirred by Land of Hope and Glory wishes to recreate an empire that was dismantled over half a century ago, and which for most Britons is now a distant memory?

The fact that the BBC clearly does not see this is reflective of how disastrously out of touch it has become from a country that is more than capable of grasping such nuances. The director-general, Tony Hall, must intervene immediately. If the Last Night of the Proms goes ahead denuded of its most important traditions, it will be an error that many British people will never forgive.