Calling flowers how ‘old school Britain’ is racist, rage Twitter’s precious little petals
IT WAS a seemingly innocuous remark about visitors from Middle Britain to the genteel splendour of the Chelsea Flower Show.
But in this hyper-sensitive era, the simple observation that ‘you don’t see many people from ethnic minorities’ at the show was enough to spark a racism row – even though the speaker was a photographer commissioned by the Left-wing Guardian.
The comment came in an interview by Monty Don for BBC2’s Gardeners’ World with Martin Parr, long celebrated for his photos documenting British society.
Don asked: ‘Do you think our relationship with gardens, and what it tells us about class and all the rest of it, has changed or is evolving?’
Mr Parr – who was photographing the show for the Guardian – replied: ‘Well, this isn’t really a typical slice of Britain. Here we have the old school here, basically, you don’t see many people from ethnic minorities.
‘This is really old school Britain, it’s sort of perms, dresses, it’s the heartland of Britain if you like. We don’t often see them because they’re sort of hidden away but they all come out because they love gardening.’
Mr Parr’s comments kicked off a cavalcade of social media comments, with tweets branding the photographer ‘racist’. One Twitter user wrote: ‘Who is this bloke talking to Monty Don? Finding him just a tad offensive. #ChelseaFlowerShow isn’t just for white middle class folk!’
Another wrote: ‘What is up with the racist comments from Martin Parr? Bizarre comments about BMEs [black and minority ethnic], and middle class Britain. Seemed really happy with how many white people were at the flower show.’
Another wrote: ‘Oooh – am I the only one that felt that Martin Parr interview was uncomfortable verging on racist…’
But the accusation of racism was scorned by Danny Clarke, a former BBC presenter and the self-styled ‘Black Gardener’. He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I think Martin’s comments were correct – Chelsea Flower Show is not very diverse. One year I went and the only black faces I saw were those belonging to some model lambs.
‘I know this year they have had the Windrush garden but that is only because it is in the news. The RHS [Royal Horticultural Society] is not doing enough. It was only last year when they had the first female black winner of a Gold medal – Juliet Sargeant – it’s tokenism. London is one of the most diverse cities in the world but when you walk around Chelsea Flower Show all you see are middle-class white people.
‘It is too easy for people to go on Twitter these days and call someone racist. Martin Parr is a white guy and even he has noticed it.’
Last night, asked about the row, Mr Parr told the MoS: ‘I don’t do Twitter, so have seen nothing. But there is no denying the main audience is white.’
The RHS has made efforts to boost racial diversity in recent years. It was revealed earlier this month that Floella Benjamin was exhibiting a garden in tribute to migrants who came to Britain aboard HMT Empire Windrush.
An RHS spokesman said: ‘We are frustrated by the lack of diversity in the horticultural industry and are doing all we can to change this but it’s something that takes time.
‘We hope there will in future be greater diversity within the professional horticultural industry, and as part of our commitment to raise the profile of careers in horticulture, we are looking at how we can address this issue.’