'She will be dealt with': Starmer slams Rupa Huq over 'racist' comments about Chancellor
28 September 2022, 07:58
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said MP Rupa Huq's comments about the "superficially" black Chancellor were racist.
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Labour MP Ms Huq was administratively suspended from the party after her comments about Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.
Sir Keir told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: "What she said in my view was racist, it was wrong and she's been suspended from the whip in the party and that was done very, very quickly.
"I think that tells you how strongly I feel about those comments.
"She shouldn't have said it. She will be dealt with and I'll be absolutely clear it was racist."
Sir Keir said it was not his personal decision to suspend her but "it's a decision I absolutely agree with" and the MP would now face an investigation.
Sir Keir's response follows that of deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner, who told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr on Tuesday that she welcomed the suspension and said Ms Huq was "right" to apologise.
"I don’t know what was going on in Rupa’s mind," she said.
"Rupa would have to explain that."
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Ms Rayner conceded that people make mistakes, but said such speech could not be tolerated in the Labour party.
"People can make mistakes, and that does happen, and people should recognise when they’ve made mistakes," she said.
"But also, we cannot have unacceptable behaviour in our party."
She added: "It was unacceptable, those comments, and they would have been hurtful and it's right that she should apologise for those comments."
Angela Rayner gives take, after Rupa Huq description of Kwasi Kwarteng
In audio published online, Ms Huq can be heard discussing his elite school background, before adding that "you wouldn't know he is black" when listening to him on the radio.
The comments from the MP for Ealing Central and Acton, in west London, appeared to have been made at a fringe event at the Labour conference in Liverpool on Monday.
Ms Huq said she had apologised "wholeheartedly" for her "ill-judged" comments to Mr Kwarteng.
"I have today contacted Kwasi Kwarteng to offer my sincere and heartfelt apologies for the comments I made at yesterday's Labour conference fringe meeting," she said.
"My comments were ill-judged and I wholeheartedly apologise to anyone affected."
Earlier this month, Mr Kwarteng became Britain's first black Chancellor.
Ms Huq's 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.
Former Tory MP David Gauke speaks to Andrew Marr
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Tory party chairman Jake Berry raised his "serious concerns" in a letter to Sir Keir earlier today.
"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".
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy added: "I wouldn't have made them myself and clearly I hope Rupa apologises and retracts them, frankly."
Asked if the Labour MP should have the whip withdrawn, he said: "I have only just heard this story to be honest, I don't know the full circumstances so I don't want to shoot from the hip.
"I hope she is able to stand those comments down."
In a tweet, Mr Katwala said Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds was no longer at the meeting when the criticised comments were made.
Ms Huq and the Labour Party have been approached for comment.
