Unionist peer an old racist dinosaur, says Piers Morgan
Twitter row: Lord Kilclooney A VETERAN unionist peer has hit back after Piers Morgan branded him an “old racist dinosaur”.
Lord Kilclooney last night said he would expect nothing more from the controversial broadcaster, saying Mr Morgan was “that type of person”.
Morgan made the comment after Lord Kilclooney, formerly known as John Taylor, debated on Twitter about the cricketer Moeen Ali and the merits of him having a place in the England cricket team for the final Ashes Test.
“Times have changed! The England team now needs non-English people in order to win Test Games!” tweeted Lord Kilclooney.
When someone pointed out Ali was born and bred in England, the former Ulster Unionist deputy leader responded: “Moeen Ali is proud to be British but racially he is not English. There is a difference between being English and being British!!”
This prompted TV host Morgan to cut in. “Oh shut up you racist old dinosaur. Moeen Ali’s more English than I am, and I was born in Guildford,” he tweeted to his 6m followers.
Lord Kilclooney responded in turn. “Piers Morgan is one of a minority who wrongly thinks that England is a country — in fact it is one of four nations in the country known as the UK.
“I do not reduce myself to his level by insults but simply try to educate him,” he tweeted.
“A Chinese born in England is Chinese and not English!
He also told the Belfast Telegraph the Daily Mail columnist had “missed the point”.
“He is of course inaccurate,” he said. “There are people born in England that have the right to be British, but Moeen Ali is not English and I suspect if you asked him he would say he is Pakistani.
“People often confuse race with nationality and there is a distinction. They are arrogant, they don’t realise England is the country but the nation is the UK, although of course England is the biggest constituent part.
“Of course my point was more to do with the English cricket team and how it should probably be referred to as the ‘British’ cricket team.”