Shaun Bailey: Tory London mayoral candidate is SEXIST as well as RACIST, it seems
Shaun Bailey: Conservative candidate for Islamophobia – and now, for sexism and misogyny.
How encouraging that the Conservative Party has not withdrawn its support for Shaun Bailey as London mayoral candidate, despite the evidence that he is not only a racist (as discussed elsewhere) but also a sexist.
It may be seen as evidence that the Tories are at last displaying their true colours.
According to Business Insider:
“Single girls in inner cities “deliberately become pregnant” in order to secure homes and benefits from the government, the Conservatives’ London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey, wrote in 2006.
“Bailey, who has secured the nomination to take on London mayor Sadiq Khan, wrote in the Telegraph that “any young girl living in the inner city will be clued up on how the system works.”
“In the comments, unearthed by Business Insider, he added: “They won’t be too careful about not becoming parents. In some cases, they will deliberately become pregnant – as they know that if they do, they will get a flat.”
“He went on: “It is the same with benefits. These people are not stupid. If the state offers them money for doing something, they will do it. It is as simple as that.”
“In similar comments speaking at the Conservative party conference in 2008, Bailey also said there was a “cottage industry” in young women getting pregnant for state support, the Observer reports today.
“”Girls getting knocked up to get housing? It’s a cottage industry where I come from,” he said.”
And Buzzfeed News reported:
“Conservative London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has been criticised for a series of controversial comments he made when he was a youth worker in North Kensington in 2005.
“Among the remarks unearthed by BuzzFeed News are claims that “good looking” girls in the area “tend to have been around” and that “poor people” require “rules” and “direction” or else they will turn to crime.
“Bailey also railed against the impact of drugs on the estate, warning that young girls were likely to start smoking before boys because “they have a smoker’s attitude”.”
Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan told the site this was “appalling sexism and misogyny”.
But the Tory candidate’s campaign team said they were the “blunt words” of someone “who hasn’t figured it all out” but wanted to make a contribution to society by offering his experiences, “however raw they might seem now”.
Read the Buzzfeed and Business Insider articles and you’ll be able to draw your own conclusions about Mr Bailey’s words.
One doubts such conclusions will be favourable.
Of course, words published many years ago may not be representative of a gentleman’s current thinking.
How long will we have to wait for Mr Bailey’s full and frank statement disowning his former words and explaining his attitudes – both then and now?
I won’t be holding my breath waiting!
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In my own experience it is not unknown for girls to see becoming pregnant as a way into having a home of their own, although calling it a cottage industry is appalling. The real point when people say this always seems to be missed. It is an utter indictment both of the housing situation and of the range of opportunities available for young girls that anyone should see getting pregnant as their best hope.
I’m sorry but I cannot agree with your assertion the Shaun Bailey is racist. People are mixing culture and religion with race and cannot tell the difference. This conflation is doing nothing to deal with racism in this country.
Interesting assertion. Would anybody like to respond?
Bailey is a very strange character. He should, however, be at home in the Tory Party which is full of racial bigots.