Gary Neville 'kicking down at working class' with furious Union Flag remarks

Gary Neville has been accused of "kicking down at the working class" after blasting "angry middle-aged white men" for hoisting Union Flags. The former England defender and now TV pundit suggested following a deadly terrorist attack at a Manchester synagogue last week that people putting up the flags "know what they are doing", using them "in a negative fashion". They are "turning Brits against each other", the Sky Sports host added, also saying that he had taken one down from a construction site of his in Manchester.

Mr Neville said: "Funnily enough on one of my development sites last week there was a union jack flag put up and I took it down instantly." He added: "Some people might be watching this and thinking: 'Gary, you're not really patriotic.' I've played for my country 85 times, I love my country, I love Manchester and I love England. I've been building in this city for 15-20 years, and there's no one who has put a Union Jack flag up in 15-20 years, so why do you need to put one up now?"

Reform UK board member Gawain Towler told our podcast The Daily Expresso: "Well, firstly, it was on his property. So he has the right to take it down if he wishes.

"But this video was made in response to what happened in Manchester last week.

"And to blame me, or people like me, for what happened in Manchester last week, I think is just astonishing.

"There is something responsible for the murder of Jews in the streets of of Manchester, and eight middle aged white men."

He added: "It's Islamist ideology.

That's what is behind it." Mr Towler professed that he is sure that when Neville put on an England shirt, he was "proud to do so".

"I'm absolutely convinced of that," he said. "But I think that he has been insulated from real life by his vast wealth.

"And it's kicking down, isn't it? He doesn't mean middle-aged white men, he means working-class middle-aged white men."

The flag phenomenon is "a little bit aggressive", Nigel Farage's former right hand man admitted.

"There's something of a dog marking its territory," he said.

"There is the feeling that... this country is no longer ours, and this is a statement of 'this is England'.

"This is the UK. It is ours. And it is not... a message to migrants.

"It's not a message to incomers, it's a message to our governing class."

Mr Towler added: "We feel, the people of this country, or many people in this country feel, that you are taking the p***."

"But it is clear that all political parties... apart from the Greens, have cottoned on," he said, "mainly because of the rise of Reform in the polls and in the actual elections, that if they don't address this, they're doomed."