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Politicians and the union jack: a recent tradition
Historian KEITH FLETT charts how the flag-waving habit has ebbed and flowed over the years

THE union flag has long been a symbol of the British empire, imperialism and so on.
However it has been mostly, at least in official terms, a ceremonial one — raised or lowered as Britain claimed or exited territory around the world, saluted on formal occasions, often royal ones.
In the last 50 years the flag has been used by fascists and the far right.
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