AND THE FIRST APOLOGY – FOR ‘CASUAL RACISM’

ONE of the rebel MPs had to publicly apologise within hours of walking out of Labour after she described black people as having a ‘funny’ tint or tinge.

Appearing on the BBC’s Politics Live programme, Angela Smith said racism meant black working-class women face greater impediments in life, adding: ‘The recent history of the party I’ve just left suggests it’s not just about being black or a funny tin... you know, different – from the BME [black and minority ethnic] community.’

Miss Smith later said she was ‘very sorry’ for any offence caused after she ‘misspoke’. Labour MP Rupa Huq said: ‘This is, at best, the casual racism of the 1970s I thought we’d left behind.’