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RISHI SUNAK HAS said MP Lee Anderson’s remarks that sparked an Islamophobia row “weren’t acceptable, they were wrong”, as he denied the Conservative Party has Islamophobic tendencies.
The British Prime Minister addressed the row today after facing growing calls to speak out about the former Tory deputy chairman’s comments.
Anderson lost the Conservative whip over the weekend after failing to apologise for claiming “Islamists” had “got control” of Sadiq Khan and London.
But critics including the London mayor and Tory peer Baroness Warsi hit out at Sunak for failing to explicitly condemn the comments.
Speaking to local BBC radio stations during a visit to North Yorkshire, the Prime Minister said: “I think it’s incumbent on all of us, especially those elected to Parliament, not to inflame our debates in a way that’s harmful to others.
“Lee’s comments weren’t acceptable, they were wrong. And that’s why he had the whip suspended.”
Clearly his choice of words wasn’t acceptable, it was wrong.
“Words matter, especially in the current environment where tensions are running high and I think it’s incumbent on all of us to choose them carefully.”
Asked whether his party has an Islamophobia problem, the Prime Minister said: “No, of course it doesn’t”.
Sunak said it was “not a fair characterisation at all” to say he has condemned antisemitism while overlooking Islamophobia in his own party.
“Racism or prejudice of any kind” is “completely unacceptable” and “not British”, he said.
He said he is proud of the fact that “it wasn’t a big deal” when he became the first British-Asian prime minister, adding: “And that’s because we’re the most successful multi-ethnic democracy in the world.”
A Conservative party source had defended Anderson’s comments on Friday night, before he was stripped of party support on Saturday amid mounting condemnation from across the political divide.
Ministers previously said he was deprived of the whip because he did not apologise, while Sunak appeared to go further by saying he was suspended because of his “unacceptable” comments.
It came after one of the most fractious weeks in Westminster in recent years, which saw Parliament descend into chaos over a row about the handling of a Commons vote on Gaza and concerns for MPs’ safety.
Anderson, the Ashfield MP who is standard bearer for the Tory right, will now sit as an independent unless he defects to another party that chooses to offer him its backing.
Cabinet minister Mark Harper has left the door open for Anderson’s possible return to the Tory party.
Asked what he needs to say to be welcomed back, the Transport Secretary told Sky News: “I hope he will reflect on what he said and he will retract those comments and apologise…
“He’s contributed a lot in the past. I’d like to see him be able to contribute to the Conservative Party in the future.”
Asked what message the consideration of a return to the party sends to British Muslims, Harper said his suspension “sends a very strong message that we don’t tolerate people saying such things in the Conservative Party”.
He declined to say whether Anderson’s remarks were racist despite being pressed repeatedly, reiterating only that they were “wrong” and “not true”.
Tory former minister Baroness Warsi, who previously urged Sunak to “call out anti-Muslim racism”, today accused the Government of “dragg(ing) its heels on any work to tackle this form of racism”.
“No new initiatives, no engagement with communities, no definition. Instead culture wars, othering and blatant anti-Muslim racism,” she tweeted.
Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said condemned Anderson’s remarks as “appalling” and said they were “clearly not to do with who Sadiq Khan is, it was a slur that was directed at him because of Islamophobia”.
She said she has written to the Conservative Party chairs seven times over the past three years calling for them to take action against Islamophobia in the party.
“This isn’t something that popped up five minutes ago, it is a continuing concern,” Ms Dodds told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Rishi Sunak needs to condemn Anderson’s comments for what they are, Islamophobic and racist, and make clear he won’t be let back into the Conservative Party.”
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No one seems interested in the basic function of farming, creating food.!Any suggestions on what we should eat when all the rewilding is complete!
@Tommy Lennon: Nearly all the food we produce is exported though, so rewilding vast swathes of land wouldn’t affect our access to food.
@Tommy Lennon: Heather!! This hogwash is really going overboard. 5.2 Million people have to eat something!!
Few years ago they couldn’t give away enough money to reclaim land, bogs were drained, ditches bulldozed to make fields bigger now give more money to put it back, what next
@Andy Murphy: it’s as if priorities can change over time.
Mad, Ted!
@Ciaran Foster: or money changes hands ?
Totally agree. I bought the book from Eoghan back in December as a present but could not stop reading it.. great eye opener when walking around any nature area and looking at our human shaped environment.
Bought the book. Eoghan knows what he is talking about, we should listen
Lord save us from this stuff, so we return good farmland to the so called wild bush,
I have known so called farmers like this and they were to lazy to work their land and produce food, this was their cop out for not working their inheritance farm,
The boyo who wrote this article seems like one of them.
@Ned: You sound bitter. Were they “to” lazy to learn to spell also?
Every day I read or hear about another demand from the “Green Agenda”. Previously I would have considered myself environmentally conscious but I have rapidly become less so due to the polarised views presented.
More tree planting, ditch fertiliser (go organic) , drop bovines and ovines 20% in favor of grains and vegetables. Pay farmers to do so. Targets met… Simple..and it will be done.
Folks, do yourselves a favour and read his book.
Great book, highly recommend!
I’ve no problem to pay farmers to rewind their farms
But let’s house the homeless fix our health first eh?
We should change our approach to land use. A farm should be an inclosed area where sheep / goat / cows won’t go outside to graze on every little tree sapling. Same for sikka deer that has gone out of control in recent years. Nature and biodiversity has no chance in this country atm.
There are 8 Billion people on this planet that have to be fed every day and this idiot wants us to grow weeds. Enough of this nonsense. No matter what we do on this little island it will make little or no difference to global warming. We’re not the cause of the problem, but we could help alleviate the consequences.
@Liam Dunne: well we are the cause of the problem, rich countries like ireland are the ones who consume the most and produce the most carbon per capita, we still contribute to the overall problem
@Liam Dunne: It’s not about global warming, it’s about biodiversity. Read the article, then try reading some books.
We need all houses to be carbon neutral…citizens deserve at least cheap/free heating.
I’ve noticed a lot of hedgerows getting torn out of grazing fields near me over the last 2-3 winters.
It makes little sense, the farmer only gains a few square meters of space. Then any farm animals in the fields lose shelter from the elements during wind, rain & heat.
And of course nature loses its last piece of wilderness on the edge of the field.
Is there some sort of subsidy to do this sort of work or why is it being done?
So you want us to pay farmers to not work on the least viable part of their land. Sure.
@Dan Dare: they would need money to maintain fences to keep deer, sheep & goats off the land while it recovers.
Kill an extra quarter of a million cows a year and rewild as much land as possible . What will people eat if this goes ahead ? And there is no point in saying that we export most of what we produce as if that makes its consumption somewhere else on the planet irrelevant
Unbelievable, I grew up in a large farming community. Farmers are so so wealthy. The new generation of farmers are splashing the cash, massive mansions, big 4×4′s, new cars etc. Some small farmers may struggle a little like the rest of us. But the cash the big dairy guys are rolling in is unbelievable!
have your say