It turns out the ‘blue’ passport was just more Brexit bluster

In 2017 the UK government excitedly announced that the ‘iconic’ blue passport would be returning. Brexit talking head Nigel Farage declared: “In the 2016 referendum, we wanted our passports back. Now we’ve got them back!”
Iconic? Blue?
This writer was among many people of a certain age scratching their heads and trying to remember what blue passports had looked like. Surely they used to be black? I found an old one in a draw:
But nevertheless the reveal, from then-immigration minister Brandon Lewis, featured a design for the post-Brexit document that was unmistakeably blue. Grey-blue, but blue.
Problems
In the aftermath of the referendum, the actual power of a UK passport began to decline. And the government then faced ridicule when it announced that the new passport wouldn’t be made in the UK. Instead, a French-Dutch company had won the contract and would produce the passports in its factory in Poland.
The actual new passport
Images of the new passport in the flesh began to seep out a couple of weekends ago, only to be submerged by a news cycle full of flooding coverage. Now people are starting to catch up and the question of what constitutes blue is up for debate. The finished product is certainly very different from the 2017 mock-up:
Read on...
Britons will once again be able to travel with a blue passport when the iconic colour returns for the first time in almost 30 years. pic.twitter.com/rBZ4bvu1Qn
— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) March 2, 2020
It’s really quite black:
Checking out my “iconic” new blue passport pic.twitter.com/L2dRftXePT
— Nick Taylor (@Nick_Tea) March 2, 2020
So much for bringing back the old colour:
The iconic 'blue' British passport – apparently 'an important part of our national identity' – actually turned out to be black because no one could remember what fucking colour it was #bluepassport
— AliBroom (@AliBroom3) March 5, 2020
After all, surely a passport is only as good as its ability to get you across borders?
I’d rather have a burgundy coloured EU passport that gives unrestricted freedom of movement to live, work, study and travel around 27 other countries than a blue coloured UK passport that doesn’t offer these freedoms. Please retweet if you agree. pic.twitter.com/eb0MniPG93
— Tanvir M M (@malmuk_tanvir) March 5, 2020
The blue / black conundrum had some people looking to George Orwell’s 1984 for a precedent:
'They were black. They looked black. Everyone referred to them as black. I remember it. I was alive then.' This was the thought Winston clung to as he worked through the archives, painstakingly changing every occurrence of the word 'black' to 'blue'. https://t.co/BTmTO9ZWE8
— Toby Venables (@TobyVenables) March 5, 2020
Maybe this will form part of the new citizenship test:
Honestly think this is some kind of test. If you're willing to say that this obviously black passport is blue, you're a good fit for Johnson's hard-Brexit Britain, where the truth is whatever the government says it is. Those of us who insist it's black will be unpersoned.
— Jim Caris (@jimcaris) March 5, 2020
Or it could, like so much about the Johnson / Cummings regime, be some kind of weird misdirection:
And so with the planet on fire, our nation withdrawing into isolationism, racism and the far right on the rise, this.. THIS.. is what matters so much to some.https://t.co/sMsaLdYUFF
— Simon Garrett 🎈 (@simonjgarrett) March 5, 2020
Anyway, the answer’s black.
Featured image via Twitter – Home Office / John Ranson for The Canary
We need your help to keep speaking the truth
Every story that you have come to us with; each injustice you have asked us to investigate; every campaign we have fought; each of your unheard voices we amplified; we do this for you. We are making a difference on your behalf.
Our fight is your fight. You’ve supported our collective struggle every time you gave us a like; and every time you shared our work across social media. Now we need you to support us with a monthly donation.
We have published nearly 2,000 articles and over 50 films in 2021. And we want to do this and more in 2022 but we don’t have enough money to go on at this pace. So, if you value our work and want us to continue then please join us and be part of The Canary family.
In return, you get:
* Advert free reading experience
* Quarterly group video call with the Editor-in-Chief
* Behind the scenes monthly e-newsletter
* 20% discount in our shop
Almost all of our spending goes to the people who make The Canary’s content. So your contribution directly supports our writers and enables us to continue to do what we do: speaking truth, powered by you. We have weathered many attempts to shut us down and silence our vital opposition to an increasingly fascist government and right-wing mainstream media.
With your help we can continue:
* Holding political and state power to account
* Advocating for the people the system marginalises
* Being a media outlet that upholds the highest standards
* Campaigning on the issues others won’t
* Putting your lives central to everything we do
We are a drop of truth in an ocean of deceit. But we can’t do this without your support. So please, can you help us continue the fight?
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.