"The ceremony, too, reflected the deeply left-leaning sensibilities of Mr. Boyle"

The ceremony, too, reflected the deeply left-leaning sensibilities of Mr. Boyle. It pointedly included trade union members among a parade of people celebrating political agitators from the past, a parade that also included suffragettes, Afro-Caribbean immigrants who fought for minority rights, and the Jarrow hunger marchers, who protested against unemployment in 1936.

It would not be lost on Mr. Boyle that unions have suffered in Britain in recent years, particularly at the hands of the Conservative Party, led by Mr. Cameron. But he devised the ceremony, he said, with no political interference.

That proved highly irritating to at least one politician, Aiden Burley, a Conservative member of Parliament, who denounced what he referred to as the ceremony’s “leftie multicultural” content on Twitter.

“The most leftie opening ceremony I have ever seen — more than Beijing, the capital of a communist state!” he posted grumpily.