LONDON: MP Rupa Huq is understood to have been suspended from the Labour Party after facing criticism from colleagues for describing Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng as “superficially” black.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was under pressure to remove the whip from the politician over the remarks that were criticised by Angela Rayner and David Lammy as well as Tories.
In audio published online, Ms Huq can be heard discussing Mr Kwarteng’s elite school background, before adding that “you wouldn’t know he is black” when listening to him on the radio.
The comments were made at a fringe event at the Labour conference in Liverpool on Monday about the man who earlier this month became Britain’s first black Chancellor.
Labour sources told the PA news agency Ms Huq has been administratively suspended from the party, and has therefore lost the party whip.
A party spokesman added: “We obviously condemn the remarks she made, they are totally inappropriate and we would call on her to apologise and withdraw them.”
The suspension came shortly after Sir Keir finished his conference speech, which he used to argue now is a “Labour moment” for the party to provide the leadership the nation “so desperately needs”.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner had told the MP for Ealing Central and Acton, in west London, to apologise and take “immediate action” over the “completely unacceptable” remarks.
In the audio, Ms Huq could be heard saying: “Superficially he is a black man.
“He went to Eton, I think, he went to a very expensive prep school, all the way through, the top schools in the country.
“If you hear him on the Today programme, you wouldn’t know he is black.”
Tory party chairman Jake Berry raised his “serious concerns” in a letter to Sir Keir, with the audio being published by the Guido Fawkes website shortly before his conference speech.
“I trust you will join me in unequivocally condemning these comments as nothing less than racist and that the Labour whip be withdrawn from Rupa Huq as a consequence,” he wrote.
Mr Berry said that Sunder Katwala, who was chairing the event for the British Future and Black Equity organisations, was forced to challenge her remarks.
According to the Tory MP, Mr Katwala said that the Chancellor’s Conservative views “doesn’t make him not black … and I think the Labour Party has to be really careful”. Ms Rayner told BBC Politics Live: “She should apologise for those comments.
“For me those comments are completely unacceptable.
“I think Rupa needs to reflect on what she has said and she needs to take immediate action.” If she fails to apologise, Ms Rayner said: “Well that’s a whipping matter, what they do regarding the whip. But I’m pretty certain that the whip will see that and say that’s not acceptable.”
LONDON: The deaths of five people including a child while attempting to cross the English Channel underlines the need...
WARSAW/LONDON: Rishi Sunak has discussed air defence with Volodymyr Zelensky as the Ukrainian president welcomed a...
LONDON: A challenge over the UK’s role in allowing weapons to be sent to Israel for use in Gaza is set to be heard...
LONDON: London Mayor Sadiq Khan has talked about how he wants to help people living in poverty if he wins another term...
KARACHI: Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Karachi on Tuesday amid tight security, on the third leg of...
LONDON: The Government’s expansion of funded childcare for working parents in England could affect the quality of...
EDINBURGH: The social care sector was under-prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic as it was “already in crisis”, an...
LONDON: Three teenagers have been sentenced for criminal damage after Rochdale Cenotaph was daubed with the words...