Please share this article as widely as possible - T.J. Coles
British media have singled out the Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour
party for relentless and unprecedented accusations of widespread anti-Semitism.
The same media have almost completely ignored far more widespread and
easier-to-prove prejudice in the governing Conservative (Tory) party. Occasional
reports have not amounted to daily, hysterical attacks against the Tories, as
is the case with Labour.
Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s remarks about
veiled women looking like “letter boxes” is the tip of a very large iceberg.[i] A few months ago, the UN
Special Rapporteur on Racism, E. Tendayi Achiume, highlighted what she called
“structural racism” at the heart of British society.[ii]
In 2015, ex-Tory advisor, Derek Laud (who is black), told British
media, with specific reference to how the Tories treat the migration issue: “There
is no other party better at pointing the blame their way than the Tories. They
are the ultimate racists because they deal in stereotypes.”[iii] But Laud didn’t stop
there. Referring to the treatment of black Tory candidate for west London,
Shaun Bailey in 2010, Laud said: “They saw in Shaun a stereotype of what they
wanted – black, presentable, committed. But as soon as he had served his
purpose they dropped him.”[iv]
In 2016 (updated this year), the British union UNITE
published a dossier of alleged and confirmed racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism,
and Islamophobia within the Tory party. The report made no recommendations and
states: “the Conservative Party is regularly beset by allegations of racism
against its MPs, councillors and candidates. It’s also clear that only rarely
do such instances – even when particularly offensive – result in the person
being expelled from the Party.”[v]
In 2016, Dr Feyzi Ismail reported that the British Tory
government was refusing to host an online petition to call for an inquiry into
racism.[vi]
What follows is a chronology of allegations and
confirmations of prejudice made against Tory politicians and councillors. Boris
Johnson deserves a separate article of his own for the racist things he’s said
and written. (For a Johnson compilation, see Chapter 2 of my book, The Great Brexit Swindle (2016,
Clairview Books)). Years covered in this article are 2015 (when the Tories came
into office) to the present.
2015
January: Peter Batty,
Tory leader for Hinckley and Bosworth, passed on emails containing jokes about black
people and Pakistani flood victims.[vii]
April: The Limbury
Mead Residents Page Facebook group run by candidate David Coulter posted in
reference to Irish travellers: “Red Alert! Be aware the pikies have moved the
car park at the shops [sic]. LOCK YOUR DOORS- GUARD YOUR VEHICLES. It is not
politically correct, but be damned, they are thieving troublemakers and we need
vigilance” (emphasis in original). Coulter denies writing it and said he
personally deleted it.[viii]
April: Candidate
for Derby Council, Gulzabeen Afsar, was suspended after saying she’d never
support then-Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, whom she referred to as “the Jew.”[ix]
May: No action
was taken when councillor Thomas Crockett of Maida Vale compared local youngsters
to Hitler Youth.[x]
May: Following a
police investigation, no action was taken after Leicestershire Cllr Bob Fahey
referred to one colleague as “the Indian” and another as a “Chink.”[xi]
June: Dover
District Cllr Bob Frost tweeted that a Big
Issue (homeless magazine) salesperson should “fuck off back to Romania.”
Frost said it was satire. (Frost has a history of posting racist abuse, or
“satire”: calling rioters in London in 2011 “jungle bunnies” and Arabs “sons of
camel drivers”).[xii]
July: PM Cameron
referred to refugees as a “swarm.”[xiii]
September: Cllr for
East Renfreshire, Gordon McCaskill, implied that refugees are terrorists when
he tweeted that he wished to see those in Scottish National Party leader Nicola
Sturgeon’s house reveal themselves to be “Daesh moles.” He was suspended.[xiv]
September: It was
reported that Mike Kusneraitis, Cllr for Runnymede Borough Council, Surrey,
posted numerous images, including a dog with a towel over its head, presumably
in relation to Arabs or Muslims in general. Kusneraitis apologised and said he
never meant to cause offense.[xv]
October: Cllr Jim
Buckley of Rugby tweeted about Sadiq Khan: “Your next London Mayor? You think
his corner shop would be open on a Saturday?” Buckley was suspended but later
cleared of wrongdoing.[xvi]
December: Then-adviser
to PM David Cameron, Oliver Letwin was exposed as saying in 1985 (when working
for Margaret Thatcher) that black people had “bad moral attitudes” and that
employment programs would see them move “into unemployment and crime.”[xvii]
December: Bassett and
Swaything Conservative Association member, Valerie Laurent, said: “You know the
little brown boy who’s standing for Swaything? That should have been mine.”
Laurent later resigned, denying the allegation.[xviii]
2016
January: PM Cameron
referred to refugees as “a bunch of migrants.”[xix]
February: Cllr for
Trafford, Manchester, Matthew Sephton (who was later jailed on child abuse
charges), posted a sarcastic leaflet aimed at the welfare state inviting
foreigners to “consider moving to England, The Welfare Country,” which also
implies that immigrants are scroungers.[xx]
April: Tory Cllr David
Whittingham was stripped of membership and sacked from the Fareham North West
council borough after he told housing officers he didn’t want any foreigners living
near him (by foreigners, he meant non-whites). Whittingham was expelled from
the party.[xxi]
April: Abdul Zaman,
deputy chair of Bradford’s Conservative Association, implied that due his area
being influenced by the Biradri system, Jews and Christians will be assimilated
politically. He was suspended.[xxii]
June: Cllr Heather
Venter of Driffield, Yorkshire, “liked” social media posts saying: “Shouldn’t
employ Muslims. Nothing but trouble” and, “Sadly, looks like Romania’s Gypsy begger/pickpockets [sic] will b [sic] soon
replaced by African Muslims.”[xxiii]
August: Cllr Andrew
Dransfield, vice chair of Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes’ fire authority,
said to a black firefighter, “You’re the first one I’ve seen ... [an] ethnic minority ... Now all we need is a
woman.” He was suspended.[xxiv]
2017
January: Cllr David
Dean of Merton was re-admitted (in April) to the party after he allegedly said
to a constituent of Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan: “as a white man … you will be a
pariah in your own town. He will treat you like dirt.” Dean denies it.[xxv]
February: Cllr Alan
Pearmain deputy chair of the South Ribble Conservative Association and
Farington Parish Councillor posted a favourable comment about a tweet featuring
Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott (who is black), as an orangutan. Cllr
Pearmain describes himself on Twitter as “slightly to the right of Attila the
Hun.”[xxvi]
April: Cllr Ray
Bray of Shelley on Kirkburton Parish Council appeared to have published a series
of tweets about “Muzzie rapists” and taxi drivers. When quizzed by the media,
he said he could not remember whether or not he’d posted them. He then said that
his twitter account was hacked. Bray was suspended.[xxvii]
May: Warwick
District Councillor Nick Harrington was suspended after saying Ireland can
“Keep your f’king gypsies! Hard border coming folks!” (his self-censorship).
The Warwick District Council said that Cllr Harrington could not be sacked
because he is an elected official and not an employee.[xxviii]
May: Michael R.
Watson, Kirklees Cllr for the Denby Dale Ward was reported liking tweets,
including pro-Nazi messages implying that “men” do not want big breasted women,
but rather Nazi Aryan women. He was suspended.[xxix]
June: Following
criticism of PM Theresa May over her seemingly indifferent response to the
deaths of dozens of people in Grenfell Tower, Tory candidate for Coventry
South, Michelle Lowe, tweeted a picture of Hitler and said sarcastically, “Politicians
should go out and hug the public more. It proves they are nice people.”[xxx]
June: Gloucestershire County Councillor Lynden Stowe: “I think that some of
Corbyn’s policies and the way he behaves are not dissimilar to some of the ways
the National Socialist Party came about.” Calling Corbyn an anti-Semite, Stowe
added: “In what he is trying to do with some of the younger people – it’s not
dissimilar to Hitler Youth.”[xxxi]
July: MP for
Newton Abbot, Devon, Anne Marie Morris, had the whip restored in December after
she was briefly punished in July for using the anachronism, “Nigger in the
woodpile” in relation to Brexit.[xxxii]
July: Tory Cllr
Rosemary Carroll of Pendle Borough Council denigrated poor people, ethnic
minorities and dogs by comparing poor minorities to dogs, tweeting that they
“stink,” have never worked and are brown. Carroll was suspended and claims she
shared the joke accidentally.[xxxiii]
August: It was
reported that Stirling councillor Robert Davies tweeted of black people boarding
a plane: “In the interests of security keep your loin cloths with you at all
times. Spears go in the overhead locker.” Alastair Majury, Tory councillor in
Stirling, tweeted jokes about Catholics: “Why is the Catholic Church against
birth control? Because they’ll run out of children to molest.” Majury also
called Catholics “tarriers,” an offensive term dating back to the Great Famine
(1845-52). He also compared the Scottish National Party to Nazis. The Scottish
Tories said: “Having served a suspension, both councillors have been readmitted
to the party after offering unreserved apologies for any offence caused.”[xxxiv]
September: Jeff Potts
of Solihull borough council in the West Midlands retweeted the comments of
others, such as: “Deport and repatriate all muzlims [sic] from the UK or watch terrorists
kill innocent people for generations to come” and, “You’ve clearly not
experienced the Pakistani hospitality, having a daughter raped by men who think
she’s ‘white trash’.” Potts was suspended.[xxxv]
October: Calls from
opposition councillors mounted to suspend Solihull Cllr, Margaret Bassett, over
retweets of some of Jeff Potts’ retweets relating to migration.[xxxvi]
November: MP Douglas
Ross said of “Gypsy-travellers” that he would impose “tougher restrictions” on their movements and settlements.[xxxvii]
December: Teignmouth
Cllr Robert Phipp was revealed to have liked a Facebook post by the far-right
Britain First group featuring a covered dog and suggesting it could be a guide
dog for blind Muslim women.[xxxviii]
December: It was
reported that Cllr Eve Allison (who is black) filed a complaint against local
Conservative bosses, accusing them of racism and sexism. She was sacked (a.k.a.
deselected), meaning her application to stand for re-election was rejected.[xxxix]
2018
March: It was
report that Derek McCabe of South Ayrshire council, who sits on the council’s equality
and diversity forum, had posted jokes on Facebook denigrating poor people and
black people.[xl]
April: It was
reported that in 2013, Councillor Mike Payne of Sowerby Bridge, Calderdale, shared
an article which described Muslims benefit recipients as “parasites.” Payne was
suspended.[xli]
April: A scandal
broke (Windrush) in which it was revealed that for many years, the Home Office
(including under then-Home Secretary and now PM Theresa May) had a policy of denying
citizenship to Afro-Caribbean-majority Britons, despite many and their parents
having been invited to Britain in the 1960s to fill an alleged labour shortage.
The Tory government had a policy of creating a “hostile environment” for
migrants (or “illegal migrants”, as they claim).[xlii] Home Secretary Amber
Rudd took the heat for May and resigned.
May: Rosemary
Carroll (the councillor who shared on social media a joke comparing Asians to dogs) was
re-relected.[xliii]
May: Baroness
Warsi (Tory) expressed concern about Islamophobia in her party. No action was
taken.[xliv]
June: Baroness
Warsi again expressed concerns about Islamophobia in the Tory party, stating: “I
think that there is a general sense in the country that Muslims are fair game
and it is not the kind of community ... you can treat really badly and have
many consequences. You can get away with it” (sic).[xlv]
July: Warsi called
for a full and independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the Tory party, stating
that no action had been taken since her last public statements, adding that the
attitude among Tories was “fuck the Muslims”.[xlvi]
Resources:
[xxx] Sarah
Morland (2017) ‘Former Conservative candidate for Coventry South criticized for
Hitler tweet’ The Boar.
[xlii] Sarah Pepin
and Melanie Gower (2018) ‘Windrush generation’ House of Commons Library CDP-2018-0111, London: The Stationary
Office.
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