Party Identity

Abstract

In the 1992 general election, the heat from the torch of freedom wilted the rose of humanity, while the bird of aspiration failed to take off. Or that anyway was the result in terms of party logos and their supposed connotations.

The people’s rose in shades of pinks Gets up my nostrils and it stinks, But ere our limbs grow stiff and cold Our old Red Flag we shall unfold. With heads uncovered swear we all To let rose petals fade and fall Though moderates flinch and media sneer We’ll keep the Red Flag flying here.

Tony Benn’s alternative version of ‘The Red Flag’, marking Labour’s adoption of the rose as party symbol, 1986¹

I love roses. I grow them in my own garden. But I prefer them in my garden rather than on my lapel.

John Prescott, 1995²