Government flies Union Jack upside-down
Tuesday, 3 February 2009 12:00 AM
By politics.co.uk staff
The government has been criticised for showing the Union Jack upside down during the signing of a trade agreement.
The plastic flag was displayed mistakenly during a ceremony with Gordon Brown, Wen Jiabao and Lord Mandelson.
Viewers contacted the BBC to point out the error.
The Flag Institute has said it was "concerned" about the mistake and Tory MP Andrew Rosindell dubbed it "an unbelievable flaw in protocol".
When hanged properly, the thick white bits of the diagonal, closest to the flagpole, should be above the thin white parts.
Mike Kearsley, director general of the Flag Institute, said to the BBC: "My first reaction is 'here we go again'.
"One part of me is concerned that we don't recognise and understand our own flag but another part of me is amused that it's a terribly British thing to do.
"You would think people in Downing Street would recognise it because they see the flag so often. Many places in government these days have people working from overseas and maybe they don't understand.
"If we had flown the Chinese flag upside down it could have been quite a diplomatic problem."
"I'm surprised that people of the calibre of Mandelson and the prime minister could allow such as mistake," Mr Kearsley continued
"They were just little plastic flags on wooden sticks, which you could easily take off and put back the right way up.
"In some parts of Europe you will see four flags flying from public buildings - the national, EU, district and town flags. They seem to get it right. So should we."
Mr Rosindell, chairman of the Commons all-party flag group, said: "It's an unbelievable flaw in protocol by Number 10.
"You would think they would know which way the flag was flown. Whoever is responsible for this should know better."
Mr Kearsley added: "Having the flag upside down historically was a sign of distress. You might have it put it up on a fort to warn those in the know - other British forces - that there was trouble from the enemy.
"Forces from other nations wouldn't have noticed. It was like a sort of code."
The Union flag colloquially known as the Union Jack - has been in use since the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland came into force in 1801.
Soon after coming to power in 2007, Mr Brown scrapped a rule saying the Union flag could be flown only on certain days of the year.
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