The different standards applied to Antisemitism and Islamaphobia in contemporary UK racist discourse
I’m still reeling from Rishi Sunak’s shameless, dangerous speech
The prime minister’s address on Friday was a masterclass in gaslighting and made a new art form of rank hypocrisy
“We must face down the extremists who would tear us apart,” Sunak declared to the country on Friday evening. And perhaps never were truer words spoken – at least not by this morally bankrupt prime minister, who is rapidly proving to be one of the most dangerously irresponsible leaders this country has ever faced.
I am still in disbelief at the sheer chutzpah of Sunak wheeling out the No 10 lectern and calling on the whole nation to tune in to an emergency address. Because what came next was not the announcement of a major natural disaster or attack. It wasn’t, as we saw from other world leaders that day, a condemnation of open gunfire against starving people trying to reach aid trucks in Gaza, or a statement of solidarity with Russian protesters against Putin. It wasn’t even the calling of an election.
Instead, what Britain got was a masterclass in gaslighting. Sunak’s performance made a new art form of rank hypocrisy, as he pretended not to know that the very extremism he criticised was being actively driven by his party and peddled in his speech.
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By choosing to give that inflammatory speech, Sunak has shown that he is prepared to lurch even further to the right in a bid to stop defections to the Reform UK party. The mask has well and truly slipped: this was yet another step in the culture war right from the very top. The hard right of his party will have been overjoyed to see Sunak the strongman, cracking down on dissent, stifling protest and taking aim at immigrants and Muslims.
Ultimately, that speech was a dark moment in British politics. Democracy is indeed under threat from extremists. The problem is, they’re running the government itself – and we need to wake up and stand up to the seriousness of the threat that they pose.
- Caroline Lucas is the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion
Green Party on Lee Anderson’s Islamaphobic remarks
As Lee Anderson doubles down on his controversial comments made over the weekend, when he claimed “Islamists” had got “control” over London and that the mayor, Sadiq Khan had “given our capital city away to his mates”, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay, said:
“Sunak needs to recall his pledge to act with integrity and challenge the divisive and dangerous rhetoric being used by some of his MPs.”
“We need our leaders to work for unity rather than creating division. For some time, senior Conservative Muslims have been raising concerns about the extent of Islamophobia in their party and criticizing the failure of the leadership to tackle it. Sunak needs to make clear that there is no place for such views in his party, and to instigate an immediate review of Islamophobia.”
Tories’ ‘toxic racism and Islamophobia’ risks fuelling more hate on the streets
CAMPAIGNERS have called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to withdraw the whip from Suella Braverman and Liz Truss, warning that their propagation of “toxic racism and Islamophobia” could fuel far-right hatred on the streets.
The demands came after the Tory whip was removed from Lee Anderson after he made Islamophobic comments to GB News about London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
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Mr Sunak removed the whip, but only after Mr Anderson failed to apologise for his comments.
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Mr Anderson’s comments were soon followed by an article in the Daily Telegraph by former home secretary Suella Braverman.
She wrote: “The Islamists, the extremists and the anti-semites are in charge.”
Across the Atlantic, former Prime Minister Liz Truss attempted to drum up new support by attending the far-right Conservative Political Action Conference.
While a guest on War Room, the podcast of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, she said that “a radical Islamic party” could win the Rochdale by-election.
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Post Office documents containing racist terms describing Horizon victims used as recently as 2013
POST OFFICE documents containing “utterly abhorrent” racist terms to describe wrongfully convicted sub-postmasters were used internally and updated as recently as 2013, according to an internal investigation.
The company launched the probe last year after documents obtained by Horizon scandal campaigners found fraud investigators were asked to group suspects based on racial features.
Between 2000 and 2015, more than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted based on information from Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon accounting system used in Post Offices.
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A document used by the company’s security team used identity codes, each with language to describe a person’s ethnic origin, for potential suspects.
One description used the term “negroid types.”
Other archaic and offensive terms were used to describe individuals as “Siamese,” “Malaya” and “Chinese/Japanese types.”
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