Labour peer apologises to Javid for ‘deport my parents’ cartoon

A PRO-EUROPEAN Labour peer has apologised to Sajid Javid after sharing a “racist” cartoon depicting the new Home Secretary saying that he will deport his own parents.

Lord Adonis posted a cartoon on Twitter which showed Mr Javid, the first Asian Home Secretary and the son of immigrants, sitting in his new office.

In the cartoon Mr Javid says: “I just want to settle in, get organised, then deport my parents.”

The cartoon, from The New European newspaper, prompted a backlash on Twitter with senior Tories suggesting it was racist. Mr Javid said on Twitter: “Not like you Andrew, you’re better than this.”

Daniel Hannan, a Conservative MEP, said that the cartoon was “disgusting”.

Lord Adonis, a former Labour Cabinet minister who is campaigning for Britain to stay in the European Union, subsequently took down the post on Twitter.

He said: “Sajid, on reflection I think this cartoon is too personal and in poor taste. I have deleted it. I am sorry. Andrew.”

Mr Javid subsequently urged Pakistani boys to “aim high” and not be “put off by the likes of Andrew Adonis”. “If you put in the hard work, you can achieve anything – regardless of background – in our great country.”

The new Home Secretary is the son of a Pakistani immigrant who arrived in Britain in the Sixties with £1 in his pocket.

He worked in a cotton mill in Rochdale and later as a bus driver in Bristol, before running a women’s clothing business. Mr Javid and his four highly competitive brothers were raised in a

‘Sajid, on reflection I think this cartoon is too personal and in poor taste. I have deleted it. I am sorry’

two-bedroom flat above a shop on what he described as “Britain’s most dangerous street”.

All four have gone on to success, with Mr Javid entering the world of finance before giving up his earnings of around £3 million a year to pursue a career in politics.

He began a meteoric rise, becoming a Treasury minister within two years under George Osborne, the former chancellor, before going on to become head of the government departments for culture, business and, most recently, housing.