Tory MP says party must change attitude towards taking the knee

Exclusive: Steve Baker says ‘this may be a decisive moment for our party’ amid backlash over abuse of footballers

Jessica Elgot and Aubrey Allegretti
Tue 13 Jul 2021 20.02 BST

Conservatives urgently need to change their attitudes towards people taking the knee, an influential Tory MP has said amid an angry backlash against the government over the racist abuse of England footballers.

Steve Baker, the former minister and hard Brexit campaigner, broke cover on Tuesday to plead for his party to think again about dismissive attitudes towards the taking of the knee and calling for better understanding of the motives behind it.

Labour has been granted an urgent question in parliament on Wednesday on racism on social media after the abuse faced by players following the Euro 2020 final, and Baker said: “This may be a decisive moment for our party.”

“Much as we can’t be associated with calls to defund the police, we urgently need to challenge our own attitude to people taking a knee,” Baker wrote in a message to MPs on the Conservatives Against Racism, For Equality group. “I fear we are in danger of misrepresenting our own heart for those who suffer injustice.”

His intervention came after the England footballer Tyrone Mings accused the home secretary, Priti Patel, of “stoking the fire” at the beginning of the tournament when she described players taking the knee as “gesture politics” and refused to condemn booing by fans.

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