He didn’t even get the date of St George’s Day right
While St George’s Day traditionally falls on 23 April, this year it has been moved to 28 April due to its clash with Easter last week.
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson posted a celebratory tweet yesterday, saying he is proud to be British, but “extremely lucky to be English”.
While Reform UK has framed St George’s Day as an occasion to “unashamedly celebrate” English culture and history, it has been pointed out that England’s patron saint was born in what is now modern-day Turkey.
St George was born in the 3rd century AD in Cappadocia, now part of modern-day Turkey, and is believed to have died in Lydda (present-day Lod, Israel) in the Roman province of Palestine in AD 303.
Broadcaster Narinder Kaur blasted Anderson’s post, stating: “You would literally deport St George today if he arrived on our shores as a Turkish immigrant. Sit tf down man.”
On ITV News yesterday, the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire pointed out: “Today, St George’s Day, where we celebrate the Turkish migrant worker who never came to Britain. He’d be banned from Britain now, actually.”
Anderson later quote-tweeted Maguire’s post, writing: “Or he could open his own Barber Shop next to 5 other shops accepting cash only.”
Users on X called out Anderson’s dog whistle post implying Turkish barber shops don’t pay taxes. One stated: “Nice bit of “light” racism there Lee!”.
Meanwhile, another pointed out that St George is “also a Muslim and Jewish prophet — not sure your followers can handle that. Wait till they find out the dragon didn’t exist either.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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