Euro 2024: Just about every prime minister tries latching onto football success – but they need to be careful

I am just old enough to remember 1966, mainly as a culture shock. My father, a workaholic hospital doctor, was actually at home on a weekend and turned on our black-and-white television in the middle of the day to watch football of all things!

It was an early lesson in the way international football success can break down barriers and expand national horizons.

In 1966, Britain had a newish prime minister in Harold Wilson eager to harness a mood of classless hope for the future, symbolised architecturally by the new Royal Garden Hotel.

The England team were staying in the spanking new modernist block and appeared on a plate glass and steel balcony overlooking Kensington Gardens to display their trophy when they got back from the old “Two Towers” Wembley Stadium.

Now the England men’s team are playing in their second major international final since then. A new Labour leader has just been elected and, like Mr Wilson, Sir Keir Starmer really is a football fan.

In 1966 Mr Wilson joked: “Have you noticed how we only win the World Cup under a Labour government?”

Sir Keir came close to echoing him after England squeezed past Switzerland in the quarter-final, remarking: “I’d remind you, England have not missed a penalty under a Labour government in 2024.”

Latching onto football success is by no means exclusive to Labour leaders – just about every prime minister tries it. But they need to be careful – top politicians can sound unconvincing when they talk about sport. The ball bounced best for Mr Wilson, in 1966 at least.

Now Sir Keir seems well positioned. Perhaps this is because Labour and professional football share the same historical roots in Britain’s industrialised cities and towns. Big money and foreign investors have moved in but, at heart, football remains “the People’s Game”.

England team’s slow build to success fits spirit of ‘change’

Whatever happens in Berlin, and whatever their personal politics, the diverse England team’s slow build to success under Gareth Southgate seems to fit with the spirit of “change” which Labour has campaigned on and which the new government seeks to emulate.

As he made clear in his now famous “Dear England” letter before the last Euro championship, Southgate is closely attuned to how England is changing.

The England team in 1966 were all white, today he draws on players from a multitude of backgrounds. They took the knee in the summer of Black Lives Matter while all being proudly English. Southgate has ensured his players know the words to the national anthem.

It is a myth Mr Wilson consolidated his position in the 1966 general election on a wave of euphoria after the World Cup victory. That was impossible. Mr Wilson won his landslide victory in March and the FIFA final was on 30 July.

But, like Sir Keir, he flew back from Washington DC to attend the match, alongside Queen Elizabeth II. He invited the team to Number 10 Downing Street where he was already known for Swinging Sixties parties including celebrities such as The Beatles.

Hopes of cashing in on football success

For the next World Cup campaign in 1970, the team, made up of working-class blokes, released the song Back Home aimed at the pop charts. Not all of them got rich, potential earnings from football were much lower then.

Mr Wilson considered his chances of cashing in on football success when he called an election in 1970 to coincide with the next World Cup in Mexico.

Things started to go wrong when the team captain, Bobby Moore, known as the “Gentleman East Ender”, was arrested and detained in Colombia on preposterous charges of stealing a bracelet from a jewellery shop. In spite of that, England were 2-0 up in the quarter-final against Germany but crashed out 3-2 after substitute goalkeeper Peter Bonetti had a shocker.

Four days later, UK voters unexpectedly dumped Mr Wilson out of office. His successor Tory Ted Heath was more interested in sailing and music.

Politicians keep distance from ‘beautiful’ game

England failed to qualify for the 1974 and 1978 World Cups. The government was forced to order the first of a series of inquiries into the safety of football grounds after 66 were killed in the partial collapse of Glasgow Rangers’ Ibrox Stadium.

Politicians kept their distance from the “beautiful” game as fatal incidents to do with crowd control and decaying facilities recurred: Heysel, Belgium 1985; Bradford fire 1985; Hillsborough 1989.

Margaret Thatcher was bemused when a European summit in Dublin ground to a halt to watch the Irish team’s progress in Italia 1990 – a tournament best remembered in England for Gazza’s tears over a booking.

Her term in office still saw market-oriented developments which transformed the British game.

The arrival of satellite television in 1989 encouraged the FA to expand the live broadcast of league games leading to the establishment of the English Premier League. The money which flowed in paid for the modernisation of UK stadiums ordered by Lord Woolf and ever-bigger salaries and transfer fees for players.

‘Tony knows nothing about football’

It took Sir Tony Blair years to live down an inaccurate newspaper report he had claimed to have witnessed from the stands a famous goal by Newcastle United’s Jackie Milburn. This was unlikely because he was aged four and living in Australia at the time.

On a happier note, cameras captured the Labour leader playing keepie uppie for an impressive 29 headers with Kevin Keegan, formerly an England international player and then the manager of Newcastle (“My team,” Sir Tony said).

Sir Tony’s aide Alastair Campbell is an avid supporter of Burnley and liked to tell reporters: “Tony knows nothing about football.”

Sir Tony was mainly interested in its potential political power. He co-opted David Beckham into an unlikely trio with London mayor Ken Livingstone to lobby successfully to bring the Olympic Games to London in 2012.

He also made two unsuccessful attempts to use football to bring the nations of the UK together following devolution. He lobbied for Wimbledon FC to move to Belfast (the team ended up in Milton Keynes). He also suggested a UK-wide premier league bringing in Celtic and Rangers.

Gordon Brown supported Raith Rovers and, after “How are you doing?”, his favourite conversational opener is: “What team do you support?”

Football fever recedes

Football fever receded after 2010 when the Conservatives returned to power.

David Cameron famously forgot who he supported, saying “West Ham” instead of “Aston Villa”, the team with similar colours which he and fellow Old Etonian Prince William are supposed to favour.

Theresa May hesitated over hanging national team flags in Downing Street at competition time.

Being a rugby player did not stop Boris Johnson slipping an England jersey over his business shirt when the team was doing well in the last Euros.

England got to the final at home in that brief period of opening up during the COVID pandemic, but Italy won on penalties and the crowd behaviour at Wembley led to another official inquiry.

Football blunder

Like John Major, Rishi Sunak confessed to being more of a cricket fan. Sir Keir planned his campaign tour around minor league football grounds but the Tory leader added football to his list of blunders when he asked some Welsh fans if they were looking forward to the Euros. Wales failed to qualify.

Sir Keir would not make that mistake, he is a regular at his local football team the mighty Arsenal.

His special but nerdy gift to the US president must have added to poor Joe Biden’s befuddlement. Who knows what the president will make of an Arsenal shirt stamped with 46, his place in the US presidential succession?

Much of the nation will unite this Sunday evening to watch the game – including many who don’t usually follow football.

The new prime minister, a fan of Arsenal and England, has more at stake than most in what he brings home from his VIP seat in Berlin.