Adonis says sorry over ‘racist’ Javid cartoon
LORD Adonis was last night accused of posting a ‘racist’ cartoon suggesting that Home Secretary Sajid Javid would use his new powers to deport his own parents.
Mr Javid, the first ethnic minority MP to hold one of the four top jobs in Government, hit back at the Labour peer, writing: ‘You’re better than this.’
Fellow Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt and Tory MPs also rounded on Lord Adonis for his ‘profoundly poor judgment’.
He had posted the cartoon on Twitter even though Mr Javid’s father Abdul, a Pakistani immigrant to Britain, has died.
The cartoon, which Lord Adonis said was published in the pro-Remain New European newspaper, featured Mr Javid in his new role as Home Secretary.
It was headed, ‘Sajid Javid takes over Amber Rudd’s role’, and showed Mr Javid saying: ‘I just want to settle in, get organized, then deport my parents!’
There was also a flip chart next to him with the heading ‘targets’. This was a reference to the scandal which saw Miss Rudd resign last week after misleading Parliament on targets for removing illegal immigrants.
After a storm of criticism, Lord Adonis, a former Blairite minister and a diehard Remainer, apologised and removed the post, tweeting: ‘Sajid, on reflection, I think the cartoon is too personal and in poor taste. I have deleted it. I am sorry. Andrew.’
Mr Javid’s father, about whom he has spoken movingly, died in 2012, two years after his son became an MP. The minister’s mother, Zubaid, is still alive.
Mr Javid, who has been tipped as a future Tory leader, sent a tweet to Lord Adonis, writing: ‘Not like you Andrew Adonis. You’re better than this.’
He later responded to a member of the public who suggested he was an inspiration for British Pakistani boys, saying: ‘Please tell them not to be put off by the likes of Andrew Adonis.
‘Encourage them to aim high. If you put in the hard work, you can achieve anything, regardless of background, in our great country.’
Miss Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, rallied to Mr Javid’s defence, writing: ‘Hope this display of proplot. foundly poor judgment is short lived, that you now regret it and plan to put things right.’
Tory MP Sarah Wollaston demanded that Lord Adonis apologise, tweeting: ‘No excuse for this deeply offensive personal insult targeting Sajid Javid and his family.’
Amandeep Singh Bhogal, a former Tory parliamentary candidate, said: ‘Tweeting appalling racist cartoon about Home Secretary Sajid Javid. Andrew Adonis this time you’ve really lost the Vile. Racist.’ He said targeting Mr Javid’s dead father in a ‘disgraceful racist cartoon’ was ‘beyond sickening’.
After his promotion last week, Mr Javid immediately suffered racially charged abuse from Labour supporters, some of whom branded him a ‘coconut’ and ‘Uncle Tom’, highly offensive terms used to accuse someone of betraying their heritage.
In his first week he announced a new immigration policy for loyal Afghan interpreters, which means they no longer have to pay large fees to continue living in the UK.
Just before he was promoted, Mr Javid spoke about his parents and the Windrush scandal. ‘I was really concerned when I first started hearing and reading about some of the issues,’ he said.
‘I’m a second-generation migrant. My parents came to this country from Pakistan, just like the Windrush generation… When I heard about the Windrush issue I thought, “That could be my mum... it could be my dad... it could be my uncle... it could be me.”’
Lord Adonis, the Government’s former infrastructure tsar, has boasted that he has a ‘game plan to stop Brexit’ and has compared Brexit to the appeasement of Hitler.
‘You’re better than this’