Keir Starmer kept quiet about this – and who can blame him?
In the midst of renewed concern about the overt racism in the Labour Party under Starmer’s leadership, it has been revealed that Angela Smith, the woman who described people of colour as having a “funny tinge” was quietly re-admitted, some time ago.
Here’s Cornish Damo to give you the details:
Let’s have a quick reminder of what she said, back in 2019:
Today's #LabourSplit, we are told, was partly driven by a commitment to 'anti-racism'.
Within hours Angela Smith, one of the MPs involved, referred to BAME people as being a 'funny' colour on #politicslive
What conclusion does she think people will draw about her, then? Or about Labour itself?
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Labour’s poll lead over the Conservatives is widening – just as This Writer said it would – and it seems part of the phenomenon is due to the splitter group Change UK (as it now wishes to be known) taking traditional Tory votes.
A Twitter user delighting in the handle “You’re terrible, Luriel”, stated: “It *is* funny that the Tinge have done more damage to the Tories than Labour though, isn’t it? Big shoutout to @ChrisLeslieMP, @ChukaUmunna, @joanryanEnfield, @angelasmithmp et al. Who knew that the greatest service you could do the Labour Party was not be in it?”
I think it tells us something we knew all along – that TINGe/Change UK/CHUK or whatever you want to call it is just another brand of Toryism. It has attracted traditional – non-neoliberal – Tories away from the Conservative Party, thereby weakening Theresa May’s increasingly feral pack of animals.
The poll ratings appear to have induced panic in the Tories’ high command, which seems to be splitting over Theresa May’s alleged offer of a general election in the event of further deadlock over her Brexit plan.
According to The Observer, MPs from all sides of the Conservative Party are saying they would block any move by Mrs May to lead them into a general election, fearing a worse wipeout than in 2017 – and who can blame them?
This will be why the Conservatives are utterly shitting themselves about having a general election. pic.twitter.com/2R6a6yVEyO
Meanwhile, Amber Rudd is said to have formed a party-within-the-party to stop what’s seen as a disturbing rightward drift, perhaps spearheaded by the European Research Group (ERG) of right-wing MPs; pro-Brexit ministers are threatening to resign if Mrs May agrees a permanent customs union with the EU; and other Conservatives are preparing to support a referendum on any deal eventually passed by Parliament.
In other words, the Conservatives are a mess and the only reasons they are likely to stay in government are selfish. No wonder they are plummeting in the polls.
After all, when even the Mail‘s principal ugly, Dan Hodges, is saying this –
This week the Conservative Party could have delivered Brexit. They chose to deliver the keys of Downing Street to Jeremy Corbyn instead.
Their secret weapon – Labour deputy leader Tom Watson – was set to appear on the BBC’s flagship politics discussion programme, The Andrew Marr Show, on Sunday morning. It is entirely possible he’ll find some piece of anti-Labour dribble that he’s been saving for a rainy day, that the pro-Tory Corporation can overhype until somebody believes it.
Labour have a big polling lead over the Tories and, like clockwork, Tom Watson appears on #marr
Watson has already said he would work with the Conservatives in a “government of national unity”, whatever that is, so we know he can’t be trusted to support a Labour government. By rights he should be drummed out of the Labour Party for suggesting the answer could be anything other than a Labour government – but of course he is a senior party representative and a member of Parliament to boot, so he remains impervious to any attempts to put him through the party’s grotesquely biased and one-sided disciplinary procedure.
I can’t believe Watson is openly admitting he’d work with Tories. We have to deselect him. Who the hell does he think he is? He works for his constituents & they voted LABOUR. Someone get rid, pls! This is an undemocratic Establishment stitch-up to avoid a GE & Corbyn in No10.
— Rose Shillito #FreeAssange (@rozzleberry) March 30, 2019
The trouble is, the clocks have gone forward and most people are likely to oversleep and miss it. I’m writing this at 2.20am, so I know I will!
Who knows what else the Tories will try, if Tom doesn’t turn the tables for them?
We may find out in unintentionally (for the Tories) hilarious ways.
In a nutshell: The Conservatives are unsafe whatever they do – and it’s all their own fault.
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Party girls: Heidi Allen (left), interim leader of “Change UK”, with fellow members Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston. You can read about their decision to register as a formal political party here.
The INdependent Group of elitist MPs – colloquially known by its critics as TINGe after a racist comment by member Angela Smith – is to register as a political party on the advice of the Electoral Commission and will be known as Change UK.
Small Change UK? Or Short-Change UK? One has to ask.
What I want to know is, does this mean we will finally be able to see who is actually funding this shadowy organisation that has, until now, hidden its finances by registering itself only as a private company?
That information would be worth knowing.
TINGe – sorry, CHINGe – claims it is registering as a party in order to take part in the upcoming European Parliament elections – so it seems clear that MPs like Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen, Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger are nailing their flags to the mast and saying Theresa May’s third attempt to get her withdrawal agreement through the House of Commons today will end in defeat.
If it doesn’t, and the UK leaves the EU without having to participate in the elections, will they go through with registering as a party, or will they go back to hiding behind their shroud of commercial secrecy?
Participation in the EU elections would also provide us with a way to gauge whether the independent MPs and their organisation have gained any real traction among the electorate.
What do you think of this latest development?
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Chuka Umunna: What is he for? Apparently if you read his pamphlet you won’t be any the wiser.
I can’t guarantee it’ll be the best thing you’ll read all weekend, as Skwawkbox implies.
But the distillation of Chuka Umunna’s 20,000-word pamphlet on how he sees the progressive approach to politics into 20 pithy tweets by Richard James certainly deserves as wide an audience as possible.
Let’s hope enough people see it to seal the doom of The INdependent Group of elitists once and for all.
If you’re wondering which tweet was my favourite, it’s the one that says: “People should stop cheeking their political and social betters on Twitter. It really is not on.”
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I wonder how Luciana Berger, who has made such a row over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, feels about Angela Smith referring to people “of a funny… tint” on the BBC’s Politics Live:
Today's #LabourSplit, we are told, was partly driven by a commitment to 'anti-racism'.
Within hours Angela Smith, one of the MPs involved, referred to BAME people as being a 'funny' colour on #politicslive
Or is Ms Berger fine with it? She shouldn’t be – besides anti-Semitism, one of the main reasons for the “Independent Group” being formed was racism in general.
A lot of people aren’t – and made the obvious connection:
I presume Chuka Umunna, Mike Gapes, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker, Chris Leslie and Ann Coffey will be throwing the racist Angela Smith out of the party or at the very least suspending her until an investigation and tribunal has happened. #LabourSplit
Here‘s Asa Winstanley of The Electronic Intifada: “Right-wing former Labour MP and “Labour Friend of Israel” @angelasmithmp proves just how concerned she really is about anti-racism by talking about people who are “a funny tint”.”
Barry O’Leary tweeted: “@angelasmithmp Thank you so happy you left especially after today’s proof you have problems with race. “Black or a Funny Tinge”.”
CHANGE POLITICS by starting an organisation with undisclosed corporate funding, full of people who supported the Iraq War, who profit off privatisation of public services, who are embracing Tories with open arms, who make racist comments against BAME people on national tv.
Some recalled Independent Group poster boy Chuka Umunna’s claim that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour was “institutionally racist” and asked the obvious question. Here‘s James: “Is @TheIndGroup “institutionally racist”?”
Louie summed it all up – and provided part of this article’s headline: “A big thank you to Angela Smith for helping to kick racism out of the Labour party by resigning this morning.”
But the last word should go to Eoin Clarke’s Tory Fibs Twitter account:
7 new Labour Careers are born today. These constituencies will rapidly select Labour Candidates who stand ready to serve their constituents faithfully, and continue to fulfill their hope of a Labour government for the many, not the few.
I played it to Mrs Mike, who responded: “Now she knows how destroying it is. Would she have treated Corbyn the way she has if she had known what it’s like to be on the receiving end?”
Personally I have no sympathy. Certainly at least one of her colleagues has been happy to attack other Labour Party members for behaviour that no reasonable person would consider to be unacceptable. Ms Smith thought she was untouchable because of her privileged position. She was wrong. She’s not protected by the Labour Party complaints system any more. And that is no bad thing at all.
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