Javid shames Corbyn over racist abuse from Labour
SAJID Javid rounded on Jeremy Corbyn yesterday after he was the target of racist abuse from Labour activists.
The first ethnic minority Home Secretary was bombarded with racially-charged slurs from Labour councillors, party members and activists after his appointment this week.
He was branded a ‘ coconut’ and ‘ Uncle Tom’ – notorious terms used to accuse someone of betraying their heritage – in inflammatory social media posts.
Yesterday Mr Javid claimed the racist abuse has been fuelled by the ‘hostile environment’ in Labour under Mr Corbyn’s leadership. He also accused the party leader of tolerating anti-Semitism during a heated debate in the House of Commons on the Windrush crisis.
Mr Javid said: ‘When people talk about a hostile environment, what it reminds me of is some of the hard Left who have joined Labour ever since Mr Corbyn became the leader, and how antiSemitism has been tolerated.
‘I was talking about members of the hard Left that have created a hostile environment in their own party and people that welcome my appointment by calling me a “coconut” and an “Uncle Tom”.
‘If that’s something Mr Corbyn thinks is wrong, why doesn’t he come to the despatch box right now and denounce them?’
Mr Corbyn looked on furiously from the Labour front bench but remained in his seat, prompting Mr Javid to say: ‘I didn’t think he’d want to say anything and we know exactly what he thinks about the hostile environment
in the Labour Party against people...’
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, who was speaking for Labour, stood up to insist that all MPs of her party ‘without exception condemns the names he has been called’.
racist what ‘I’ve racist been abuse,’ online abuse she condemning is. said. So everyone ‘I know the on this side of the House without exception condemns the names he has been called.’
Mr Javid thanked her, then added: ‘I know like me she has suffered from racism as well and it’s wrong on any person, whoever they are, wherever they come from in our it particularly country. When happens it happens, in political and parties, including my own when it has happened in the past, it’s incumbent on all political leaders to stamp on it and deal with it.’ On Tuesday, a Labour mob took to social media to hurl racist insults at Mr Javid, who was born in the UK to Pakistani parents.
Omar Qureshi, a Labour member in Birmingham who is pictured wearing a Corbyn T- shirt, wrote on Twitter: ‘ Congratulations to Sajid Javid, the first coconut Home Secretary’.
Coconut is a racist slur that refers to someone who is ‘white on the inside’. Tariq Mahmood, a Labour activist campaigning for the local elections in Peterborough, referred to Mr Javid as ‘the new coconut Home Secretary’ on his Facebook page.
Activist Salman Khan wrote on Twitter: ‘ Theresa May has appointed Sajid Javid as Home Secretary, a literal coconut to cover the Conservatives’ racist build-up to the Windrush scandal.’
And a Twitter account that has 35,000 followers, including shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Corbynite MP Chris Williamson and Labour councillor Jack Johnson, called Mr Javid an ‘Uncle Tom’ – an insult of US origins used against black people to suggest they are subservient to whites.
After his appointment to the Home Office, Mr Javid distanced himself from the Home Office’s ‘hostile environment’ immigration policy saying the language did not reflect British values.
He said he would instead be seeking what he described as a ‘compliant’ environment.
Labour has said any complaints about party members would be ‘fully investigated’.
‘Why doesn’t he denounce them?’