Rule, Britannia! will be part of the Last Night of the Proms

Rule, Britannia! will be part of the Last Night of the Proms programme this year, the BBC has said.

The festival’s controller Sam Jackson said the broadcaster has to do what is “morally right” and not what is popular over playing the song at the festival.

Mr Jackson, who is in charge of BBC Radio 3 and the Proms, believes that the broadcaster “should never” make decisions based on popular opinion.

A BBC spokesman confirmed to The Telegraph that the programme will feature Rule, Britannia!

The decision comes after star cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason called for the patriotic anthem to be scrapped earlier this year, saying it made people “uncomfortable”.

‘We have to do what is morally right’

Speaking to Radio Times, he said: “The challenge that we have at the BBC is that I could sit in a room full of people who feel exactly the same way as Sheku and I could sit in another room full of licence-fee payers who feel just as strongly, if not more so, that Rule, Britannia! is a crucial part of our culture and tradition.

“I would argue we have to do what is morally right at the BBC.” He added: “We should never do things just because it’s what other people might want. We have to do what is right.”

Mr Jackson, who was formerly the managing editor of Classic FM, condemned the racial abuse that Kanneh-Mason faced on social media after his remarks as “abhorrent” and “utterly unacceptable”.

He said: “A very talented young British black man is subjected to a torrent of abuse. We have to be able to ask questions about what we do at the BBC…the views of people like Sheku are really important.

“When I hear somebody say that it makes them feel uncomfortable, when I hear an artist of his stature, and of his experience say that, of course it makes me pause and reflect. It does with any right-thinking person, because it makes me sad that he feels, at that moment, the Proms aren’t for him.”

Controversy over lyrics

The BBC faced a backlash in 2020 after announcing a plan to perform the Thomas Arne composition without any lyrics, a decision that was reversed days later when Tim Davie became the corporation’s Director General.

Dalia Stasevska, who conducted the Last Night that year in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, discussed changing the repertoire to exclude Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory to reflect debates about racism.

The lyric “Britons never, never, never shall be slaves” in Rule, Britannia! was singled out by critics, as well as the lines “Wider still and wider/Shall thy bounds be set/God who made thee mighty/Make thee mightier yet!” in Land of Hope and Glory.

Ministers condemned the proposal to drop the lyrics of the anthem, with Oliver Dowden, the then culture secretary, describing it as the corporation’s “cringing embarrassment about our history”.

Earlier this year, Rishi Sunak backed the performance of the patriotic anthem at the Last Night, as No 10 said the Prime Minister “does enjoy tradition” and was “very comfortable” with customs including the patriotic anthem.

Pop star as headline act

Mr Jackson’s comments come as it emerged a pop star will be a headline act at this year’s Proms.

He confirmed to The Telegraph that a pop performer will make a rare appearance as a headliner at the classical music festival.

Last year, Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright performed his signature brand of “Baroque pop” at the classical music festival in a specially-created performance of his 2003 album Want One.

Radio Times reported that a pop star with a reputation for baroquely sexual stage shows could be among the contenders.

Defending his decision, Mr Jackson told Radio Times: “I think one concert out of 90 is more than OK if that gets people through the doors of the Royal Albert Hall and gives people an opportunity to hear an orchestra.

“I’m not suggesting they’re then going to go and listen to Mahler Eight. But if they do, brilliant.”