LONDON — England is among the last 16 nations left in the World Cup after a tense win over the Democratic Republic of Congo, and hope is tentatively starting to spread that this tournament could finally end 60 years of hurt for the nation.
This week’s Westminster Insider podcast explores the strange but powerful relationship between football and politics — and the unwritten rules politicians should follow if they want to use the unique emotional power of the beautiful game to their advantage.
1. Get your timing right
It looks highly likely that Andy Burnham will become Britain’s new prime minister on July 20 — just one day after the World Cup final.
If England were to lift the trophy, Burnham’s first day in office would coincide with a wave of national euphoria. History suggests this could be somewhat helpful to a new prime minister.
Ten days before England’s 1966 World Cup triumph, then Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson had introduced an emergency package of tax rises and spending cuts as Britain grappled with inflation and economic pressure. Morale was low.
Then came Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick and England’s glorious win over West Germany.
England’s victory at Wembley gave the country a huge psychological lift — and boosted the standing of the government.
Richard Crossman, then leader of the House of Commons, said in his diaries there was “a big change in Harold’s personal position.”
But if Burnham is hoping for a well-timed World Cup-inspired polling boost on arrival, he should be aware that there are obvious risks if England doesn’t go all the way.
In 1970, Wilson had hoped another deep England run would help create a feel-good factor before a general election. Instead, England surrendered a two-goal lead to West Germany in the quarter-finals just four days before polling day.
After canvassing between the result and polling day, then Home Secretary Roy Jenkins reported that voters were despondent — less about the economy or immigration — but about who was to blame for England’s defeat.
Wilson lost to Ted Heath’s Conservatives.
The electoral impact of the 1970 World Cup disappointment is still the subject of debate, though an intriguing fact has only added to the folklore: English voters swung more towards the Conservatives than Scotland and Wales.
2. Be authentic
No discussion of the potential peril of mixing football and politics is complete without mentioning David Cameron.
The former prime minister — supposedly an Aston Villa supporter — famously claimed to support West Ham during the 2015 election campaign.
He later blamed a “brain fade” — but the damage was done.
Scarlett McGwire, political commentator and former Labour adviser, says authenticity is everything.
“One of the reasons it’s so important for politicians to be authentic is there’s this myth that politicians always lie,” she says. “If they’re not authentic, people think: if they’re lying about this, they could be lying about everything.”
Football fans can smell performative fandom instantly.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage recently faced criticism after posting what appeared to be recycled football content from Euro 2024 during this World Cup.
Writer and journalist Adrian Goldberg says when politicians are genuine fans “football can just be a little bridge between the electorate and the prime minister.”
Although this didn’t seem to help genuine Arsenal supporter Keir Starmer.
3. Remember the home nations
Navigating football loyalties across the United Kingdom is hard.
McGwire recalls former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s advisers deciding he was “too Scottish.”
“[They] decided to get the Daily Mail in and he had to cheer on the English team. It was completely set up. Nobody believed it,” she recalls.
Scottish Labour backbench MP Brian Leishman — a long-suffering supporter of the Tartan Army — is less concerned about courting England fans.
“It would be intolerable if England won the World Cup,” he says. “I would hate it.”
That result could boost support for Scottish independence, he adds — only half-jokingly.
4. There is no single football audience
Football teams are cheered on by a wide range of people — from younger fans to older traditionalists, England obsessives to club loyalists, politically engaged supporters to those who simply want politics kept out of the game.
That makes targeting your desired crowd crucial.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater sees football primarily as a force for connection.
“It’s a powerful opportunity to show the kind of country we are,” she says. “The very best of people coming together.”
But she warns against over-politicization. “Let’s use sport for good,” she says.
For politicians, that balancing act is becoming harder as football increasingly overlaps with wider culture-war debates.
Goldberg reckons the controversy over players “taking the knee” during the Black Lives Matter protests in the early 2020s left fans on the terraces divided.
“There were some fan bases where taking of the knee was booed, there were others where it was embraced and others where fans were kind of somewhere in the middle around that,” he says.
“I’d say there was a substantial core of supporters who felt somehow uncomfortable about it,” he adds.
Farage and his Reform UK party appear to be seeking the support of football fans with a campaign of turquoise football shirts, and visits to clubs like Ipswich Town.
5. It’s more than a game
Football is never just football.
Playwright James Graham, creator of the hit play and BBC TV series Dear England, argues politicians often underestimate football’s deeper social importance.
He says that football matters not just every two or four years during major tournaments, but every single week, shaping people’s routines, their communities and even their identities.
Amid the “hollowing out” of British civic life — declining high streets, weakened public spaces and fractured communities — the football stadium is one of the few places left where people still gather physically and collectively, he says.
When people support their club, they are investing in something bigger than themselves: shared rituals, symbols, songs and belonging.
“You have to turn up in person and in proximity with your physical community,” he says.
Graham argues that politicians who understand this are more likely to connect to voters in what he sees as an age of growing disconnection, as people’s lives are increasingly shaped by AI, growth targets and digital life.
On whether Football’s Coming Home, Graham didn’t miss a beat: “Of course.”
