Boris Johnson has said Tory MPs should “speak out loud and proud” for the UK’s history as he warned the country is suffering from an “orgy of national embarrassment”.
The prime minister was speaking in the House of Commons amid the row over the BBC stripping the lyrics from the ritual Proms performances of Rule Britannia and Land Of Hope And Glory.
The songs are associated with colonialism and slavery, though the BBC’s decision not to include a choir was at least partly taken to avoid the risk of spreading Covid.
On Wednesday, one day after Tim Davie took over as director-general, the corporation announced both would be sung at the Lsat Night Of The Proms after all.
Addressing the 2019 intake of Tory MPs in parliament, the PM told them: “I do think this country is going through an orgy of national embarrassment about some of the things that other people around the world love most about us.
“People love our traditions and our history with all its imperfections. It’s crazy for us to go around trying to censor it. It’s absolutely absurd and I think we should speak out loud and proud for the UK and our history.”
Johnson last week called for an end to “cringing national embarrassment about our history”.
Rule Britannia – strongly associated with the Royal Navy – is deemed problematic by some because of Britain’s role in the slave trade.
It has lyrics stating Britons “never shall be slaves” and “shalt flourish great and free, the dread and envy of them all”.
Land Of Hope And Glory features the music of Edward Elgar and the lyrics of Arthur Benson and has lyrics such as “thine empire shall be strong” and “God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet”.
They will now be performed by a select group of vocalists.
Musicians are performing live at the Royal Albert Hall – but without an audience due to coronavirus restrictions – across the final two weeks of the season, ending in the much-talked about Last Night.
The run-up to the Last Night has seen musicians and media industry figures weigh into the debate over the pieces.
The BBC’s former director-general Lord Tony Hall previously insisted the decision to remove the lyrics was a “creative” one.
But he confirmed that the issue of dropping songs because of their association with Britain’s imperial past had been discussed.
Later, the BBC said the traditional anthems would be sung at next year’s Last Night of the Proms.
The U-turn comes after Lord Hall was succeeded in the role by Tim Davie, the former chief executive of commercial arm BBC Studios.
Davie has said the BBC needs reform “with urgency” and stressed it must be “a universal public service”.
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden reacted to the news, tweeting: “Pleased to see common sense has prevailed on the BBC Proms.”
A spokesperson for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was the “right decision” but that “enjoying patriotic songs does not and should not be a barrier to examining our past and learning lessons from it”.