PM thanks man who cleaned racist graffiti at York takeaway

Isaac Davidson said it “felt surreal” to be invited to Downing Street for the ceremony marking St George’s Day.

The invite followed Isaac cleaning the racist graffiti sprayed on the Dragon House in Foxwood Lane last August.

The racist graffiti daubed on the Dragon House, in Foxwood Lane, on August 29, 2025 (Image: Supplied)

Isaac said he was thanked by the prime minister in Downing Street as Sir Keir Starmer celebrated “service, generosity, and respect” as English values which the nation should celebrate.

“I went in and [the prime minister] did a speech and he said, ‘Where’s Isaac?’” said Isaac, 31, from Foxwood. “I just put my hand up and he thanked me in front of everyone … I couldn’t believe it was happening.”

“I’m still in disbelief, if I’m honest,” he added. “Standing outside 10 Downing Street was something I never imagined, but actually walking through the door and being mentioned in his speech took it to another level.

“It all felt surreal – like a moment that didn’t quite sink in at the time but means even more looking back on it now.”

Isaac, who works for Crystal Clean Windows, said he continues to visit the Dragon House for meals, adding that the takeaway saw an increase in trade after the incident last summer.

A Dragon House spokesperson told The Press it had been “deeply moved by the amount of support and kindness shown to us from the community after this incident”.

‘Time and time again, when times get tough, we pull each other together and we pull each other up,’ says prime minister

Isaac was thanked by Sir Keir, alongside George Sutherland, a volunteer at a food bank in Telford, and Ben Huntley, the nurse who looked after the primer minister’s brother Nick Starmer before his death from cancer on Boxing Day 2024.

“These are three very different stories, all in different parts of England, but they’re bound together by the same values of service, of generosity, and of respect,” Sir Keir said.

“They are examples of people stepping up in their communities, when, frankly, it would be easier in many cases to step back. But they step up.

“They’re exceptional stories, and yet in this country, they feel familiar because you will find them in every community across England.”

The prime minister continued: “Time and time again, when times get tough, we pull each other together and we pull each other up.

“It’s really important we do that, because there’s no getting round the fact that there are voices both here and abroad, who would seek to divide us, who want to set us apart from each other, who want to pretend that in this country, what we really do is to distinguish between people, to find their points of difference, to have a sort of toxic culture of hatred between different individuals, different groups, different communities.”

Sir Keir added: “We reject their division completely, and we will fly our flag proudly. It’s our flag. It belongs to us, and we will fly it for the values that we believe in, and they are the values of the people I’ve named in this room tonight.”