impassioned interventions this week,
including from Boris Johnson.
The BBC’s decision came amid con-
cerns about the songs’ perceived links
to colonialism and slavery. The corpo-
ration insisted that the move was linked
to the pandemic and that performances
would return as normal next year.
The poll also indicates that, overall,
the BBC retains a positive rating, with
48 per cent saying that they view it
favourably compared with 44 per cent
who do not. It is more popular with
younger people, women and Labour
voters.
Fifty-five per cent say that the BBCBoris Johnson is facing calls from
senior Tory MPs to give a “clear
and consistent message” that it is safe
for people to go back to work, amid
warnings of “devastating consequences”
for town and city centres.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary,
opened a cabinet rift by saying that he
cares more about how effectively offi-
cials in his department are working
than whether they come into the office.
His comments put him at odds with
the prime minister, who has urged
people to “go back to work if they can”
and put pressure on employers to
provide “Covid-secure” workplaces.
The split emerged before it was
announced that the sandwich chain
Pret A Manger was cutting 2,890 jobs,
equivalent to a third of its workforce,
after a collapse in sales caused by the
coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Johnson is expected to renew his
attempt to get people back to work once
schools have returned next month,
with a particular focus on Whitehall
“leading by example”.
There is mounting pressure from
other cabinet ministers for people to go
back to work. Rishi Sunak, the chancel-
lor, has publicly appealed for workers to
return to help to revive the economy.
He is said to have clashed with Mr
Hancock amid concerns about the
economic damage being caused by the
lockdown. Both men have publicly
Steven Swinford Deputy Political Editor
Andrew Ellson
Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Priti Patel was furious last night after
legal challenges forced the Home
Office to abort a planned charter flight
carrying cross-Channel migrants to
Spain.
The ministry had aimed to remove 23
Friday August 28 2020 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73250 2G £2 £1.10 to subscribersCaitlin
Moran’s
Celebrity
Watch
Unrattled
How Britain’s top conductor
wants to save concert life
INSIDE
TIMES
Lawyers scupper Patel’s bid to put Channel migrants in Spain
Richard Ford Home Correspondent
Jonathan Ames Legal Editor
Steven Swinford
migrants yesterday morning after
checks against EU databases found
that they had passed through Spain on
their route to Britain to claim asylum.
Ms Patel’s department was thwarted
on the same day that it became
embroiled in a row over a Dad’s Army-
style video it had promoted, attacking
lawyers for taking such cases. It showed
simplistic cartoons of aircraft flying outof Britain to the Continent. The image
was similar to the opening credits of the
BBC comedy in which arrows indicated
British forces attacking Nazi-occupied
Europe.
Matthew Rycroft, the permanent
secretary at the Home Office, admitted
that officials should not have used the
phrase “activist lawyers” in the video,
which criticised legal efforts to halt theremoval of migrants. Senior lawyers
had accused the department of
“painting lawyers as villains”.
The planned charter flight to Spain
was part of an attempt by Ms Patel to
deter migrants from making the
Channel crossing by showing that
those who could have claimed asylum
in the EU would be removed.
The removals were halted because oflast-minute legal challenges that
required time for consideration, the
Home Office said. The migrants were
represented by Duncan Lewis, John
Street or Milestone solicitors.
Whitehall sources said Ms Patel was
furious that the flight had been halted
but recognised that last-minute legal
challenges happened frequently. “We
Continued on page 4, col 1Lady in red The singer Ellie Goulding made an entrance at the V&A in London for a concert streamed to audiences at homeMost Britons believe that the BBC is
wrong to have Land of Hope and Glory
and Rule, Britannia! performed without
lyrics at the Last Night of the Proms, a
poll has indicated.
YouGov research for The Times has
found that 55 per cent oppose the
move. Sixteen per cent think that the
instrumental compromise is right and
5 per cent believe that the songs should
not be performed at all.
The poll indicates the extent to which
the corporation is out of step with the
public on the issue, which has broughtJENNIFER MCCORD/GETTY IMAGESLand of nope: poll says BBC wrong on Proms
Lucy FisherGet Britain
back to work,
senior Tories
tell Johnson
played down reports of a rift. Dame
Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of
the CBI, has warned that commercial
centres risk becoming permanent
“ghost towns” and said that returning
employees to offices was as important
as getting pupils back to schools.
An analysis of mobile phone data
shows that 17 per cent of workers have
returned to work, the same as at the end
of June. There are warnings that Britain
will face mass unemployment when the
government’s furlough scheme comes
to an end in October.
Whitehall sources said that only one
in ten officials in the Cabinet Office and
the Treasury had returned to the work-
place after resistance from the unions.
They have warned that requiring offi-
cials to return to work would be a
breach of health and safety regulations.
Mr Hancock praised officials
yesterday for their performance while
working from home. Asked how many
staff in the Department of Health and
Social Care were working from home,
he responded: “I have absolutely no
idea.” He told Times Radio: “What I
care about is how effectively people
work and obviously people should
come back to the office if that is what
they need to do their job.
“And also employers need to make
sure the offices are Covid-secure, as we
have obviously in the Department for
Health, as you would fully expect us to.”
He added: “What I care about is that
people perform. The people I work
with, some of them have been workingPM warned of ‘devastating consequences’ for cities
Continued on page 2, col 3does not offer good value for money;
34 per cent hold the opposite view.
Thirty-four per cent also think that the
BBC should be funded through
advertising. One in four say that the TV
licence should continue in its present
form. Sixty-three per cent think that
over-75s should get free licences.
A BBC spokesman said: “We are very
lucky to have a Proms at all this year
and that is down to the artists that have
made it possible.”
The poll, conducted over Wednesday
and Thursday this week, involved 1,
adults in Britain.
Conductor swerves row, page 5