St George’s Day is always a bit of a worry in politics. Flag-waving and ingratiating behaviour is the order of the day. Oh dear, you find yourself thinking, Keir Starmer’s made a video. I daren’t look.

As leader of the opposition, I suppose the Labour leader has to do these things but it’s a tense moment. With musings about patriotism, there’s always a heightened risk of looking like a wazzock.

Exhibit A: last year’s video. Keir Starmer put out a two-minute St George’s Day reverie in 2023 which featured several images of… Glasgow.

For the avoidance of doubt – and I can say this with some authority, this being The Herald – Glasgow is not in England. The people of Glasgow are quite particular about that.

What cringe was awaiting us this year? Would we get blokey Keir, wrapped in the flag on a football terrace sloshing beer over the row in front? Would there be panoramic shots of Sir Keir on a hillside surveying God’s own country in a waxed jacket?

Thankfully – exhale – there was not. It was a bit lame, but campaign videos have to be (it’s a rule). The main takeaway was that it wasn’t awful.

Labour's shadow cabinet on St George's Day (Image: free)

In fact, it was trying to do something quite important. It was part of an attempt by Labour to reclaim English patriotism for sensible people, the ones who don’t hate Brussels or think Ursula von der Leyen is Cersei Lannister in disguise.

Landscape and football did feature. He talked about feeling pride in England when he climbed Scafell Pike with his family as a child and when “belting........

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