Recently thousands of Britons gathered in London for the Unite the Kingdom (UTK) march. The Metropolitan Police estimated that up to 150 000 people attended the march, but the organizers claim that to be a serious underestimate. One researcher estimated the number was closer to 700 000, which is comparable to the 2003 Stop the War protests, widely regarded as Britain’s largest protest march. Regardless of how many participants there were, it seems that something has shifted culturally in the United Kingdom (UK).

Whether or not the ruling elites and the country’s leading institutions recognize that, and will respond appropriately, remains to be seen.

The sea of Union Jacks and Saint George’s Crosses flying in central London at the march has been matched by thousands of flags suddenly appearing along roads, on bridges, on lampposts, and on houses across the land.

This kind of flag-waving patriotism seems distinctly American and quite un-British. But it comes in response to a government and a ruling elite that has, for far too long, put everyone else ahead of ordinary British families.

Immigration

Britons have witnessed years of uncontrolled, illegal immigration. Furthermore, they have seen these migrants being given housing, healthcare, cash, and other benefits ahead of ordinary working-class, tax-paying families. Those were surely major factors leading to the huge UTK turnout. To add to the immigration problem, most British people now know that the police routinely ignore crimes, such as robbery and burglary, while people who post something offensive on social media are arrested and sent to prison.

The sense that there is a two-tier system of justice and that ordinary people can face jail for speaking their minds, while real criminals carry on unmolested by law enforcement, is caustic to any civilized society. Add to all that a stagnant economy with high inflation and the resulting decline in average real per capita earnings and you get a very angry population.

With Britain in this poor state, one might hope that the Church of England (CofE), that most quintessentially British institution, might offer moral guidance, wise counsel, or even just a sympathetic ear. Sadly that would be wrong.

In late December 2023, I visited a CofE parish church in Oxfordshire. In the centre of the church was something that I thought might be some sort of modern art installation. It consisted of a large pile of bricks, broken concrete, and barbed wire. When I enquired about it, having expected something far more Christmassy, I was told it represented Gaza and was part of the church’s campaign against the war.

The installation contained no reference to the hostages being held in unimaginably cruel conditions in Gaza. Absent was any reference to the thousands of men, women, and children tortured, raped, and murdered by Hamas. It seemed to matter little that among the victims were not only British citizens, but also Christians. The parish appeared more interested in representing the concerns and interests of the terrorists who started a horrific war and who were extending it by continuing to hold hostages. The Church’s moral compass, it seemed, was seriously broken.

Net Zero

On another recent visit to this same Oxfordshire parish, I learned that the CofE was proudly implementing a Net Zero campaign, aiming for net zero carbon emissions in churches, schools, vicarages, and offices by 2030. In the words of the Church, “the global climate emergency is a crisis for God’s creation and a fundamental injustice.” The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, had championed numerous “woke” causes, such as climate change and LGBT rights, before he was forced to resign over his failure to act against a serious and prolific child abuser associated with the Church.

The Church’s Net Zero policy mirrors that of both Conservative and Labour governments. In their drive to remove hydrocarbons from the power grid, successive governments have driven up energy costs by forcing an increased reliance on costlier, subsidized, unreliable, and intermittent wind and solar power. The increased cost of power hasn’t just contributed to slower economic growth; it is hurting ordinary families. Last year The Guardian reported that 1.7 million people were being forced to turn off their heating during winter because they couldn’t afford to stay warm. The policy the church champions is making life more miserable for millions of Britons, which was another indicator that the church’s moral compass is pointing in the wrong direction.

To make matters worse, the Church’s, or even British, reductions in CO2 emissions will have negligible global impact given the massive increases in emissions from China and India. Furthermore, there is no “emergency” as a new comprehensive study by senior climate scientists and published by the United States Department of Energy explains. Yet, desperate to be seen to be doing the right thing, the Church is championing a pointless cause that harms the poor. Isn’t that a fundamental injustice?

Recognition of Palestine

Britain’s Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, recently recognized the state of Palestine. He failed to mention where this new country was, who its leaders were, or any of the other criteria required for the formal recognition of statehood. Perhaps that was because Starmer’s move has more to do with appeasing the growing Muslim vote at home than with securing the UK’s national interests. Almost every week since 7 October 2023, London has witnessed massive pro-Hamas and antisemitic marches with the Palestinian flag ubiquitous. Starmer’s short-term political calculation rewards Hamas.

To deal with his declining popularity he is playing into the hands of the ghoulish terrorists who started the war. Even if Starmer cares little for the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, he evidently cares less for the Palestinian people, trapped by Hamas in a Millenarian, tyrannical hell. History will not judge Starmer kindly.

The peculiar Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg, a “climatista” turned pro-Hamas advocate, is the human embodiment of the UK’s policies. These two seemingly disparate causes are, in fact, united in their opposition to capitalism and basic Western values. But Britain has its own homegrown Greta in the form of Mothin Ali, the radical Islamist who, when he is not acting as deputy leader of the Green Party, takes to shouting “Allahu Akbar” at large gatherings and harasses Jews.

Among the many people I saw at the UTK march was a man dressed up as a crusader. While his costume was more suited to Halloween than an actual crusade, it did indicate that the British people are perhaps being pushed so far that they harken back to a more ancient time, with a more, shall we say, forceful and muscular defense of their religion and identity. While the government and church are falling over themselves to signal their virtue to the detriment of the people they are supposed to represent, millions of Britons are heading in a different direction. The government and major institutions need to change policies and fix their moral compasses before things get uglier.

Richard Tren is a director of the Washington, DC-based Yorktown Foundation for Freedom