You’re racist Neanderthals, riots heroine tells Lib Dems

NICK CLEGG faced embarrassment last night after his party was branded ‘racist Neanderthals’ by a black woman who was bidding to be Liberal Democrat president.

Londoner Pauline Pearce, who became a YouTube sensation when she denounced the 2011 rioters, said she is quitting the Lib Dem presidency contest because of the party’s ‘patronising and racist’ conduct.

She was tipped to succeed senior Lib Dem MP Tim Farron, who steps down in October.

‘I feel hurt and let down,’ she said. ‘The Lib Dems are not the party I thought they were. They have a Neanderthal view of diversity, there is underhand racism and I have been patronised and ridiculed.’

Grandmother Ms Pearce was courted by all three parties and joined the Lib Dems after she confronted knife-wielding yobs in the 2011 riots in London.

Her decision to withdraw from the presidential race is a major blow to Clegg, coming hard on the heels of the row over claims Lib Dem peer Lord Rennard was accused of sexually harassing Lib Dem women.

Ms Pearce, 47, said ‘prestigious’ people in the party turned against her when it emerged she had been jailed in 1999 for a drugs crime.

A Lib Dem spokesman said the party was ‘upset that Pauline feels she has been subjected to discrimination and prejudice’ and asked her to report her experiences so they could ‘look at her concerns as a matter of urgency’.