Boris Johnson does not believe the UK is a racist country
The Prime Minister says he does not agree that Britain is a racist country, after Black Lives Matter protests were held in cities across the UK over the weekend.
A spokesman for Boris Johnson said: ‘The PM doesn’t doubt that there continues to be discrimination and racism but would not agree that this is a racist country.
‘We have made very significant progress on this issue but there remains more to do. The PM is absolutely committed to continuing efforts to stamp out racism and discrimination.’
It echoes the comments made yesterday by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who said the UK is ‘one of the most tolerant and open societies in the world’, while there is still ‘injustice that needs to be tackled’. He was accused of showing ‘real ignorance’ after claiming UK demonstrations were ‘based in response to events in America rather than here’.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the street of Britain in solidarity with George Floyd, an African American man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee against his neck for nearly nine minutes as he lay down handcuffed.
But activists were also demanding an end to systemic racism closer to home. A great deal of pain and anger remains over the Windrush Scandal, the Grenfell Tower fire, stop and search, deaths in police custody, and economic, social and health inequalities which disproportionately affect BAME people.
Campaigners have been calling for lessons on the history of the British Empire and colonialism to be made compulsory to help children understand how the period shaped the world today.
Slamming Hancock’s remarks, Shadow justice secretary David Lammy said: ‘Racism and prejudice exist in the United Kingdom as well as the United States.
‘To suggest there is only a problem on the other side of the Atlantic might make Matt Hancock feel better, but it shows real ignorance.’
Labour MP Dawn Butler, a member of the party’s frontbench under previous leader Jeremy Corbyn, told The Guardian: ‘People are angry in the UK for many reasons. We know there’s systemic racism in the UK. COVID has highlighted the grave consequences of discrimination and poverty.
‘People are angry in this country because the Windrush scandal and Grenfell … highlighted the structural racism in our country.
‘So to say that it’s an imported problem is again not listening and shows no commitment to resolving the issues of racism in our own country.’
Protests in Bristol yesterday saw Black Lives Matter protesters topple a statue of 17th century slave owner Edward Colston, drag it down the street and toss it into the harbour. Meanwhile in London people spray painted ‘is a racist’ on a statue of Sir Winston Churchill.
While demonstrations were largely peaceful, the Prime Minister said they had been ‘subverted by thuggery’ after police were chased down the streets of Whitehall and pelted with fireworks and bottles.
Johnson has been criticised for his long record of offensive caricatures of ethnic minorities. He has refused to apologise for comparing Muslim women wearing the burqa to ‘letterboxes’ and ‘bank robbers’.
He insisted he was making a liberal case for women being able to wear what they want, but Islamophobia support group Tell MAMA said there had been a 375% increase in anti-Muslim incidents in the week after the comments were made.
On his 2008 London Mayoral campaign trail Johnson apologised for a 2002 Daily Telegraph column in which he referred to black people from Commonwealth countries as ‘flag waving piccaninnies’ with ‘watermelon smiles’.
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