Prime minister Boris Johnson tried to dampen the flames of the racism row in parliament yesterday, saying “nobody defends booing” England players when they take the knee.

He was responding to accusations by England defender Tyrone Mings that the home secretary, Priti Patel, has stoked the fire ahead of the Euro 2020 tournament by dismissing it as “gesture politics”.

Patel herself had tweeted, after three black England players were racially abused on social media for missing penalties in the defeat against Italy on Sunday, that she was “disgusted” by their treatment.

Cartoon by Roy CJ – a self-taught artist from Cambridgeshire, with a passion for drawing painting and illustrating.