Robert Jenrick has raised Union Jacks across his constituency as he attacked ‘cowardly’ and ‘Britain-hating’ councils which attempt to take down the national flag.
The Shadow Justice Secretary said local authorities which failed to back displays of the flag were guilty of ‘pathetic disdain for Britain and its values’.
Mr Jenrick spent yesterday evening flying Union Jacks on lamp-posts in his Newark constituency, with the help of a team of volunteers.
His gesture came after two councils vowed to remove any English or British emblems that appeared as part of an online ‘patriotism campaign’ called Operation Raise the Colours.
Mr Jenrick told the Daily Mail: ‘I can’t stand the self-loathing councils who have taken down the St George’s Cross or Union Flag, either out of cowardice or pathetic disdain for Britain and its values.
‘These are often the same councils that happily leave up Palestinian flags.
‘They are the embodiment of two-tier Britain, where our unifying national culture is persistently denigrated and every other culture is celebrated.
‘Enough is enough. The British people won’t tolerate it any more and I won’t either.’
He urged other ‘patriotic Brits’ to follow his lead and fly the Union Jack in their neighbourhoods.
The Tory MP said: ‘I spent Wednesday evening putting up flags with local volunteers across my constituency.
‘I call on patriotic Brits across the country to do the same and restore pride in our country.
‘We must be one country under the Union Flag.’
On X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: ‘Raise the Colours! While Britain-hating councils take down our flags, we raise them up. We must be one country, under the Union flag.’
Local authorities in Birmingham and Tower Hamlets have vowed to remove Union Flags hung in their areas ‘as soon as possible’.
Former Tory centrist Mr Jenrick resigned as Rishi Sunak’s immigration minister in January 2024 over the Rwanda scheme, arguing the policy was not tough enough.
He later made the final two for the Tory leadership and was appointed shadow justice secretary in November by the eventual winner, Kemi Badenoch.
Paul Peacock, the Labour leader of Newark and Sherwood council, said Mr Jenrick would needed ‘appropriate planning permissions’ to attach the flags to the lamp-posts.
Mr Peacock said: ‘The Union Flags that have been put up in various places around Newark are currently attached to lamp-posts on the public highway and these are owned by Nottinghamshire county council.
‘I would assume the appropriate permissions have been sought by those people attaching the flags to these lamp-posts.’
Birmingham’s Labour-run council has claimed that flags hung by the roadside may put the lives of pedestrians and motorists at risk’.
Meanwhile, Tower Hamlets, run by local party Aspire, said it would remove any St George’s flags erected on council property ‘as soon as possible’.