Lost fight of the Proms! BBC surrenders over Rule Britannia

Anger over BBC’s ‘racism’ ruling

RULE Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory will be performed without lyrics at the Last Night of the Proms following a racism row.

The BBC said ‘new orchestral versions’ of the popular anthems would feature in the rousing finale of its concert next month.

Neither will be sung even though a soprano will perform the National Anthem, Jerusalem and You’ll Never Walk Alone. There will be no live audience.

A BBC source claimed Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia would not be sung because ‘we can’t do it justice without a full choir and an audience to sing along’.

The insider insisted that the singing would return next year.

‘There’s no reason they shouldn’t have anyone singing,’ said arts commentator Norman Lebrecht. ‘None of the Government guidelines forbid it.

‘The BBC have shown no ingenuity and no imagination. There’s no reason the Albert Hall should be empty – 500 yards down the road Cadogan Hall is putting on concerts with audiences.

‘It has been really a season of dereliction by the BBC, a failure of imagination.

‘It’s a complete cop-out. I’m afraid it’s another of those really weak BBC moments and as far as the Proms is concerned it’s an act of self-harm.’ The BBC made the announcement after reports that the organisers of the event wanted the songs dropped altogether because of their association with British colonialism.

The songs are part of the final night’s finale, when thousands of flagwaving ‘prommers’ traditionally pack the Royal Albert Hall.

However, critics argue that the lyrics to Rule Britannia, including the line ‘Britons never, never, never shall be slaves’, are overtly racist given the UK’s prominent role in the slave trade – and also the implication that some people could be slaves.

The 1902 lyrics of Land of Hope and Glory were reputedly inspired by Cecil Rhodes, an imperialist and mining magnate whose statue is being removed from an Oxford college following protests.

At the weekend, it was reported that the conductor for this year’s Last Night, Dalia Stasevska of Finland, was keen to reduce the patriotic elements of the event, and that this year, without an audience, was the perfect moment to bring about change.

In a bid to defuse the row, BBC bosses finally announced last night that the Last Night on September 12 would still feature ‘familiar, patriotic elements’. But sources confirmed to the Mail that Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory, which in the hall are traditionally sung by a vocal soloist, choir or both, as the audience join in, would appear as ‘new orchestral versions’ and without lyrics.

A BBC Source said: ‘No one will be singing those songs in the hall. They will be musical versions only – as Henry Wood the founder of the Proms played them in 1905.’

The announcement came just hours after Boris Johnson warned the BBC against dropping Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory. Downing Street said the Prime Minister believed in tackling the ‘substance’ of problems, rather than ‘symbols’.

Mr Dowden tweeted: ‘Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory are highlights of the Last Night of the Proms.

‘I share concerns of many about their potential removal and have raised this with BBC. Confident forward-looking nations don’t erase their history, they add to it.’

But Kehinde Andrews, a black studies professor at Birmingham City University, said the words were ‘racist propaganda’ from the days of the British Empire.

‘A failure of imagination’