Theresa May’s victory over colour has no substance, according to former adviser Charles PowellMargaret Thatcher’s key foreign policy adviser has mocked commentators rejoicing over the decision to change the colour of the British passport, describing it as nostalgia driven by ageing Eurosceptics. Confirming it was Thatcher’s government who “chose” to ditch the blue passport in the 1980s – under no pressure from the European Union – Charles Powell said the clamour for the old-style travel document was “part of the nostalgia on which the predominantly elderly Brexit constituency thrives”. May had sought to end a mostly fraught political year on a triumphant note by announcing the return of navy passports after Brexit, describing them an expression of “independence and sovereignty”. An article in the Daily Telegraph bemoaned that the shade of colour was not quite right, noting that mock-ups of the new passports showed it to be blue, but “that the pre-1988 passports appeared to be very dark blue, if not black”. Other initial supporters of the change then reacted with anger that the passports might have to be imported, with the Daily Mail demanding the documents be made in Britain.

Source: The Guardian December 23, 2017 20:00 UTC