The British Museum is facing a mutiny over a planned ball themed around the colours of the Union Jack and French tricolore, which some staff members have deemed “far-right” and in “poor taste”.
The event, proposed by museum director Nicholas Cullinan, would commemorate the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry from Normandy to the 272-year-old institution.
Staff from both curatorial and administrative departments have raised objections to the use of national colours in the event.
“It has been brought up to the director as well as other senior members of staff that this is in poor taste due to the current far-right flag campaigns around the country,” a source within the museum told The Guardian.
This year, Union Jacks and those of the four UK nations have appeared on windows, bridges and lamp-posts in what those involved say is a celebration of national identity.
However, these activities have triggered tensions between local authorities and the groups responsible.
Mr Cullinan, who was raised in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, after being born in Connecticut to British parents, has previously expressed ambitions for the annual celebration to become a “flagship national event”.
In October, the British Museum held its first fundraising ball centred around a pink theme inspired by Indian colours and light to coincide with its “Ancient India: Living Traditions” exhibition.
The British Museum is facing internal opposition over plans for a Union Jack themed ball
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Despite the internal opposition, Professor Nick Groom, author of The Union Jack: The Story of the British Flag, urged the museum to proceed with its plans for the red, white and blue theme.
“If the British Museum is reconsidering plans for a red, white and blue themed ball next year to celebrate the international concord between the UK and France in exhibiting the Bayeux tapestry in London, then it is not just abdicating its responsibilities as a national institution to safeguard our history, but will effectively be complicit in the politicisation of the union jack – which would open the door to over 400 years of that history being rewritten by the far right,” he said.
Professor Groom argued that communities require symbols of unity and questioned what alternative could replace the Union Jack.
“The only way is to resist simplistic politics that seek to impose one crude meaning on the flag and engage with its diverse history – a history that we can both celebrate and, where appropriate, censure,” he added.
Critics claim the theme was in ‘poor taste’ amid flag raising around the country
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The professor also invoked George Orwell, who criticised the “Bloomsbury highbrow” for separating intelligence from patriotism.
He added: “If you were an intellectual, you sniggered at the Union Jack and regarded physical courage as barbarous,” Mr Groom quoted from Orwell’s 1941 writing during the Blitz, when over 43,500 civilians perished in bombing raids.
A British Museum spokesman said: “The inaugural ball was a landmark moment in the museum’s history that secured over £2.5million vital funding for its international partnerships.
“We are excited to follow up this year’s success with a ball in autumn 2026 and will announce more details in due course.”
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan was among those attending the museum’s pink-themed inaugural ball earlier this year
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The Pink Ball attracted some 8,000 guests who each paid £2,000 per ticket.
Notable attendees included London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, Naomi Campbell, Alexa Chung, Miuccia Prada, Manolo Blahnik, Sir Steve McQueen, Sir Grayson Perry and Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.
Earlier this month, it was announced that Tower Hamlets Council would debate a motion which would see “Operation Raise the Colours” branded “far-right”.
Two Labour councillors on the Aspire Party-run have launched a bid to condemn the flag-raisers and “stand up to the far-right and tackle uneven development on the Isle of Dogs”.