A TWITTER storm was continuing yesterday after The National told of a Scots parent’s disquiet over their child being told to take part in “One Britain One Nation” (OBON) week at their school in Bradford.

The week starts on June 25, and children are urged to dress up in red, white and blue and sing an anthem called “One Britain One Dream”.

However, the Scottish parent, whose identity we are not revealing, was critical of the group’s stated aim to “reappropriate” the Union flag, and said their main concern was that an organisation which was controlling the narrative being given to children, was being allowed into schools.

READ MORE: ‘One Britain One Nation’ event at child's school sparks Scots parent's anger

They added: “History has shown that movements like that breed fanatics. For lack of a better word, its creepy.

“Not only that, they have a dedicated team formed within the school to promote it ... this all feels very strange. I think from the [social media] outcries there is certainly a want for more information on the organisation, especially its financing and its influence given that they appear to have an ‘all-party’ parliamentary group, all but one officer being a Conservative.”

That All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) appears to have been inactive since February 2019, but its chair and registered contact is Andrea Jenkyns, a Tory MP.

Another Tory member, Andrew Rosindell, is listed as vice-chair and yet another Tory, Jack Lopresti, is said to be an “officer”.

Former Labour MP John Grogan – who left the Commons in 2019 – is listed as another officer.

The National has approached the three current MPs for comment.

On the Twitter-sphere there was plenty of comment, led by user Vex Nemorensis, who opened one thread by describing OBON as “weird”.

She said: “And look, ‘Our Great Nation’ is not something the citizens of a healthy country say.

“That’s the sort of phrase that comes from a sense of national inadequacy. Or worse, instilled paranoia … I don’t have kids, so no doubt someone’ll tell me I can’t have an opinion on how schools operate. And mostly I’ll say fair enough.

“But I don’t think you need to be a parent to feel more than a tad icky about the idea of schoolkids being exhorted to perform patriotism.

“It’s creepy in America – this Pledge of Allegiance thing they do is messed up. This performative hand-on-heart thing they do for the national anthem is also creepy.”

Fionna O’Leary wondered about Kash Singh, the former Bradford police inspector who fronts OBON.

“I’d be interested to know a bit more about his background before he moves onto a teeny bit of goose stepping around our schools … I wonder if he has any sense of how creepy (at best) this is?”

Another Twitter user, David Palmer, echoed the sentiments of many The National’s readers: “I have just learned, through this, of the existence of ‘One Nation, One Britain’, or OBON. The very name makes my blood run cold.”

And Natalie Hunter, asked: “A new campaign will next month bring a message of British pride and unity to our children. What Union-inspired activities will you and your family get up to for One Britain One Nation (OBON) Day? We’d love to know.”

Author J R Tomlin asked: “So parents in England are all right with this kind of creepy brainwashing in their schools?”

OBON said it wanted to inspire our children to be the best they could “by developing their self-esteem” and accomplish their full potential, and wanted, “every child to be responsible, active and engaged in developing a sense of civic pride by championing our shared values of British Citizenship so that every child is learning what it is to be fair, decent, respectful, tolerant and compassionate”.

The National reader, Bruce Curtis, said: “Teachers and schools need to refuse to support this brainwashing of children”.

On Twitter Darren Hockey summed up the thoughts of many: “Sounds suspiciously like ‘One Nation Tories’ to me.”