THE Tories have done many things that have made the public question their ethics, morality, their logical understanding of this country, and occasionally reality itself. An astonishing feat given how apparently infrequently they seem to look in the mirror themselves.
The latest public disconnect from reality with Glee-level coordination premiered earlier this week, fronted by James Cleverly centre-stage, with Sajid Javid and Tom Tugendhat, stage right and stage left, respectively.
The charge was that a video put out by One Rule For Them – an organisation “fighting back against a PM who thinks it's one rule for his lot, and another for the rest of us” – was racist.
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Now, being a person of ethnic minority you become accustomed to seeing blatant racism described as “dog-whistling” let alone having to explain white privilege to those who would rather let me know perhaps I am just getting the wrong end of the stick.
You get a sense of what most will recognise as racist and what is likely to be missed unless they happen to share my heritage or are willing to hear about it from someone who has lived it.
What I’ve strived to never do is defend the indefensible by citing race. Yet we know even from the wheelie-bin fire of Free School Meals this week, that the Tories are never beyond making the indefensible look palatable by any means necessary.
It reduces the very real and breathing issue of systemic racism in this country to an inflatable shield for the most privileged by means of their wealth
The video puts together a number of already reported facts about Sunak and asks the viewer to make their mind up if he is really the "man of the people" The Conservative party have him made out to be. Things mentioned include his $8 million California Beach House, his reported property in exclusive Kensington, and his significant earnings as a former banker.
Let me preface this in a way I’ve heard too often in my life by stating: I have many ethnic minority friends and many of my family members are married to ethnic minorities. If you don’t get it have a peek at my headshot.
The video is far from racist.
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Here’s the thing, the central bond in the Conservative party is not their race, it is their disdain for anyone who happens to have the audacity to be born without the head start that many of them have enjoyed.
Their collective contempt for those fleeing warzones crossing the channel is as clear as it is for children going hungry across the UK. To claim racism when it is pointed out that the executive of the Government is kicking the poor and vulnerable, is laughable at best and dangerous at worst.
It reduces the very real and breathing issue of systemic racism in this country to an inflatable shield for the most privileged by means of their wealth. It scores political points off the backs of those who suffer from systemic barriers; both racially and socially.
If the Conservative party wish people the length and breadth of the UK to take their claims seriously, they first have a substantial amount of house-keeping to do
If it is Conservative voices on the issue that are sought to fight fire with fire – I’d look to Sayeeda Warsi’s comments on the issue.
Responding to Javid’s tweets that “The-Left detest ethnic-minority Tory cabinet ministers” she said: “Don’t think the left 'detested' me when I was a Tory Cabinet Minister although many on the right did/still do for holding a mirror up to racism within our own ranks” – a damning indictment by the former minister.
Particularly, given the issues still prevalent within the Tory party today headed up by a PM who once described Africans as "piccaninnies" and likened women who took the Islamic veil as "bank robbers" and "letterboxes".
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There is a dossier of over 100 incidents linked to Conservative Party who have aligned themselves with far-right groups, comments and public outbursts needs investigated as a matter of public scrutiny and credibility for making the charge of racism. A dossier which was promised to be investigated by Javid and party top brass themselves.
If the Conservative party wish people the length and breadth of the UK to take their claims seriously, they first have a substantial amount of house-keeping to do.
A truly independent inquiry into the issues of their party would be a welcome starting point, headed up by someone who has not previously been embroiled in controversy would be advisable.
Maybe the next time the Tories coordinate the claim of racism they’ll consult not just their PR teams but their own reflections; if anything akin to what the rest of the country sees, I dread to think what will be staring back.
Danish Ashraf is an SNP councillor in North Lanarkshire.
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