Editorial: Downing Street Tricolour blunder flags up the need for a pro Union culture in London

An Instagram post from Downing Street used an Irish tricolour to illustrate a comment about an event for Northern Ireland businesses.

The occasion was a celebration of the province in the building that is base for the head of government of the province.

An edited version of the post was then published without the flag.

This is reminiscent of an error last year, in which the Republic of Ireland flag was used to represent Northern Ireland during the Platinum Party at the Palace on Saturday to mark the Queen's Jubilee.

The BBC apologised for that error.

Is this because no-one in London cares about Northern Ireland, as some Irish nationalists like to imply? Is it that some people in positions of influence know how mischievous such symbolism will be, and contrive to make a mistake?

Whatever the reason, it is an extraordinary blunder.

In the latter case, a Conservative and Unionist government holds an event celebrating an aspect of Northern Ireland, one of the four home nations, and someone illustrates this with the flag of the Irish Republic.

If unionists get too upset about this, they are quickly accused of being petty. But these are shocking errors.

There is much talk about the return of Stormont, and the Irish Sea border being minimised and financial packages.

Yet the pro Union problems are in a way much deeper than that. Irish republicans are waging a low-level cultural battle. Informed people in the UK government know that.

The very least that can be done is having, for example in the Northern Ireland Office, a pro Union culture that all staff have to work with. The very least that can be expected is an understanding of the difference between NI and the Republic.