Kemi Badenoch has ignited this year's Pride month with a renewed campaign against woke ideology within the Conservative Party. It has been revealed that the party chairman issued a directive to Conservative-run councils yesterday, instructing them not to fly the modern, ultra-progressive version of the Pride flag.
Traditional vs. Progress Flag
In recent years, progressive institutions have increasingly replaced the traditional Pride flag—featuring six rainbow stripes—with a more 'inclusive' version that includes stripes for transgender individuals, ethnic minorities, and the intersex symbol. However, Tory-run councils have now been warned against flying this version, citing concerns that it promotes contested ideas about gender identity, critical race theory, and social justice.
The message from party chairman Kevin Hollinrake, seen by the Mail, stated: 'The original Rainbow Pride flag has come to be widely recognised as a symbol of respect and inclusion for gay people. The so-called Progress flag, by contrast, was explicitly designed to represent a broader set of political and ideological causes. Its additional symbols are associated with contested ideas about gender identity, critical race theory and social justice. Rather than uniting communities, the Progress flag is a symbol of identity politics, atomising society into different and divisive identities. For that reason, it cannot be regarded as a neutral symbol.'
Westminster Council Incident
The warning came after Westminster council, which the Tories regained from Labour in the local elections, was seen erecting the progressive flag on their Victoria Street offices. The Mail understands it was swiftly replaced with the traditional flag once noticed.
One Conservative Party aide commented: 'Too many of our institutions have swallowed the utter tripe put about by organisations like Stonewall over the last two decades. Kemi spent years in government fighting this nonsense – from the teaching of critical race theory to the SNP's bonkers gender recognition bill - and she's not going to give up now. Under Kemi, the Conservative Party is changing so that it holds true to her values of equality under the law and her opposition to divisive identity politics.'
Legal Implications
The modern intersex and BLM-inclusive version of the Pride flag also poses legal challenges for public bodies, as it is technically illegal to fly without express permission. By default, public bodies can only fly the original six-striped version of the Pride flag. In 2025, when serving as Foreign Secretary, David Lammy was accused of breaking the law by flying flags in support of Bisexual Awareness Week without planning permission. The pink, purple, and blue flags were photographed in the courtyard of his Whitehall office, with the Tories arguing they did not have 'deemed consent'. The Foreign Office countered that because the flags were on 'enclosed land' and not visible from the public exterior, they did not require consent.
