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AIBU?

Rupa Huq

249 replies

derxa · 27/09/2022 14:42

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/rupa-huq-jake-berry-keir-starmer-kwasi-kwarteng-labour-b1028459.html
Just when I'm starting to get on board with voting Labour, one of their MPs comes out with something like this.
Ms Huq was said to be sitting next to Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds when she made the remarks.
In the audio, Ms Huq could be heard saying: “Superficially he is a black man.
“He went to Eton, I think, he went to a very expensive prep school, all the way through, the top schools in the country.
“If you hear him on the Today programme, you wouldn’t know he is black.”

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Am I being unreasonable?

AIBU

You have one vote. All votes are anonymous.

VladmirsPoutine · 27/09/2022 14:49

Who were you voting for before recently?

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derxa · 27/09/2022 14:58

VladmirsPoutine · 27/09/2022 14:49

Who were you voting for before recently?

LD and Tory but it's time for a change. Just listened to Keir's speech and he sounds very creditable. But he needs to stamp on stuff like this.

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gnilliwdog · 27/09/2022 15:21

There isn't much detail in the news, and it's a terrible comment. I wonder if she was pointing out that he had an unusually privileged background for someone from a BAME community, and therefore made it into the conservative party. I rather liked HQ, who I took to be a little quirky but definitely not racist.

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gnilliwdog · 27/09/2022 15:25

RH I mean!

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Scianel · 27/09/2022 15:31

I wonder if she was pointing out that he had an unusually privileged background for someone from a BAME community

His background is privileged in comparison to any UK community though so there's no point to be made there that involves his race.

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SleeplessInEngland · 27/09/2022 15:35

Just when I'm starting to get on board with voting Labour, one of their MPs comes out with something like this.

It's a shitty comment but if this was enough to put you off you were never on board with voting labour and it's silly to pretend otherwise.

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VladmirsPoutine · 27/09/2022 15:36

It's a pretty common microaggression that many black people have faced everywhere, especially in the workplace, but I really won't get my tiny violin out for Kwarteng.

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Madamecastafiore · 27/09/2022 15:38

I'm sure BAME individuals will be thrilled to find out that if they have different political views or a certain amount of privilege that they're only superficially BAME.

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gnilliwdog · 27/09/2022 15:41

Scianel · 27/09/2022 15:31

I wonder if she was pointing out that he had an unusually privileged background for someone from a BAME community

His background is privileged in comparison to any UK community though so there's no point to be made there that involves his race.

I found a bit more context. She was at a Labour event, discussing the party's agenda on race. An audience member mentioned KK's policies in the mini budget, asking which ones would positively affect the lives of black people living in Britain. The audience member wanted to know how KK's position as a black man in government has affected his decision making and policies. This then led to RH's comments, which were terribly worded but I think she was saying his life experience was very different to many Black, British people and therefore his policy decisions in the mini budget reflect that.

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Rinatinabina · 27/09/2022 15:43

I’s be interested to know what she boxes you would have to tick to be actually black. I thought being er black was enough.

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SleeplessInEngland · 27/09/2022 15:43

Breaking: Starmer has suspended the whip from Huq. Good.

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ilovesooty · 27/09/2022 15:45

SleeplessInEngland · 27/09/2022 15:35

Just when I'm starting to get on board with voting Labour, one of their MPs comes out with something like this.

It's a shitty comment but if this was enough to put you off you were never on board with voting labour and it's silly to pretend otherwise.

Agreed.

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ilovesooty · 27/09/2022 15:46

SleeplessInEngland · 27/09/2022 15:43

Breaking: Starmer has suspended the whip from Huq. Good.

Right, so he's stamped on it. I'm sure that will put the OP's wavering voting intentions back on track, if she was serious about the possibility of her voting differently.

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Rinatinabina · 27/09/2022 15:49

SleeplessInEngland · 27/09/2022 15:43

Breaking: Starmer has suspended the whip from Huq. Good.

Good.

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derxa · 27/09/2022 16:04

SleeplessInEngland · 27/09/2022 15:35

Just when I'm starting to get on board with voting Labour, one of their MPs comes out with something like this.

It's a shitty comment but if this was enough to put you off you were never on board with voting labour and it's silly to pretend otherwise.

You're wrong about that. I'm done with the Tories. It's not a pivotal moment but it's a shitty thing to say. Black people cannot go to public school and can't vote Tory.
Rupa Huq attended Montpelier Primary School in Ealing. In 1980, at the age of eight, Huq was featured in the BBC Schools programme Look and Read when the programme visited the school.[1] For her secondary education she attended the private Notting Hill and Ealing High School.
Pure hypocrisy

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Gevrgrgrtv · 27/09/2022 16:05

If a Tory member said that it’d be in the news for weeks

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Scianel · 27/09/2022 16:05

It's a shitty comment but if this was enough to put you off you were never on board with voting labour and it's silly to pretend otherwise

I think this is unfair. Floating voters often swing the outcome of marginal seats. And it's not for you to say what is or isn't enough for put someone else off voting for a particular party.

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DrDetriment · 27/09/2022 16:06

I'm normally a fan of Rupa, despite not voting Labour. I've met her a few times and she was lovely. However these comments are clearly racist and suggest a black man has no right to be well educated or go to a good school.

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BloodyHellKen · 27/09/2022 16:06

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

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SleeplessInEngland · 27/09/2022 16:07

Scianel · 27/09/2022 16:05

It's a shitty comment but if this was enough to put you off you were never on board with voting labour and it's silly to pretend otherwise

I think this is unfair. Floating voters often swing the outcome of marginal seats. And it's not for you to say what is or isn't enough for put someone else off voting for a particular party.

I say it because I remember Derxa's posting history during partygate.

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derxa · 27/09/2022 16:08

VladmirsPoutine · 27/09/2022 15:36

It's a pretty common microaggression that many black people have faced everywhere, especially in the workplace, but I really won't get my tiny violin out for Kwarteng.

I know that MPs have to have hides like rhinoceroses but doesn't that sort of racism sting every time.

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gnilliwdog · 27/09/2022 16:09

derxa · 27/09/2022 16:04

You're wrong about that. I'm done with the Tories. It's not a pivotal moment but it's a shitty thing to say. Black people cannot go to public school and can't vote Tory.
Rupa Huq attended Montpelier Primary School in Ealing. In 1980, at the age of eight, Huq was featured in the BBC Schools programme Look and Read when the programme visited the school.[1] For her secondary education she attended the private Notting Hill and Ealing High School.
Pure hypocrisy

NHEHS provided bursaries, assisted places and scholarships. You didn't have to be rich to go there, just bright enough. Don't know if RH's family were rich but she was definitely very bright.

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poshme · 27/09/2022 16:10

Huq also said: “Ok superficially they’ve had four brown Chancellors and that. But when you have a little brown guy who, and also the leadership contest I think that I’d say alludes to that, when there was say Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch, all these people in it superficially…‘oh look it’s a multi-culty leadership race’. But then if those people have been pushed into positions where they’re having to be you know fighting to be anti-woke, when those are real gains that we’ve had multi-culturally.”

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Isaidnoalready · 27/09/2022 16:10

Gevrgrgrtv · 27/09/2022 16:05

If a Tory member said that it’d be in the news for weeks

Because boris or whoever was in charge would do absolutely fuck all about it until there was an outcry then he would listen to the "will of the people" so his party would think he was being forced and the public would think he was their "mate"

Starmer just dealt with it

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VladmirsPoutine · 27/09/2022 16:12

And it's not for you to say what is or isn't enough for put someone else off voting for a particular party.

It actually is. If someone can contently look around at all the food banks popping up, people waiting ridiculous amounts of time to see a GP, people working 2/3 jobs to barely make ends meet, people having to choose between heating and eating, kids being left to go hungry during school holidays, people being deported to countries they only knew as mere toddlers and think that's all good politics then yes it's enough for someone to question your political footing. I agree, if this comment about Kwarteng was the straw that broke the camels back then OP and people like them is the reason why we are all in this shit.

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