The Conservative MP Lee Anderson will not watch England in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday as he continues his boycott of their matches over the players’ decision to take the knee, but he concedes he will be checking the score on his phone and cheering on the team. Anderson, the MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, said he would continue to snub the team, having received emails and abuse over his decision not to watch the games after England players began taking the knee before the start of the tournament in a show of solidarity against racism. “I’ve had a bit of abuse about my decision not to watch the England matches. That’s my decision, I’m not forcing my views on anybody else,” he said in a video update posted to his Facebook page. “I don’t like the taking the knee business, I think it associates with Black Lives Matter movement. I know the England players don’t think it does, but it does, it does to me,” he said. “But that’s their choice to take the knee, and it’s my choice not to watch the matches.” Sporting an England T-shirt, Anderson said he would be cheering the team along and checking for score updates during the final. “I will be supporting England on Sunday night, I’ll be wishing them along, I’ll be checking my phone for updates to see if they’ve scored and cheering if they have. I hope they win and I hope it comes home.”
At the start of June, Anderson announced: “For the first time in my life I will not be watching my beloved England team whilst they are supporting a political movement whose core principles aim to undermine our very way of life.” The decision has been ridiculed by many, and prompted a jibe from the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday before the semi-final. “I’m sure the whole country, with the possible exception of the Conservative MP for Ashfield, will be watching this evening and cheering England on,” Starmer said. The England manager, Gareth Southgate, has supported the players’ decision to continue with the gesture, despite some boos from fans in earlier matches in the tournament, saying: “I think we have got a situation where some people seem to think it is a political stand that they don’t agree with. That’s not the reason the players are doing it. We are supporting each other.”