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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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.”

OP posts:
sst1234 · 27/09/2022 18:25

myleftventricle · 27/09/2022 18:23

Boris is a bigot in so many ways. Rupa, from that comment, I'd say probably not. Stupid thing to say obviously, but I assumed she was having a go at the fact that he's yet another Tory that's done the whole Eton, posh boy routine and that isn't a route for anyone, regardless of colour, to aspire to these days, not with what Eton seems to turn out (like bigoted Boris and his cronies). It's that sense of entitlement. All the worst bits of white privilege, only he's black. I can see her point but she made it really badly.
Equally she might think that it's a black man letting 'the side' down by being a Tory but, given the Eton connection, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

Another racism apologist. More excuses.

myleftventricle · 27/09/2022 18:29

sst1234 · 27/09/2022 18:25

Another racism apologist. More excuses.

Did you actually bother to read anything I wrote? I've acknowledged that Boris is racist. And I've acknowledged that Huq might be but I've also (tried to) explain what I think she was trying to get at. There is a difference between an excuse and a reason. Maybe you should try to be a little less closed-minded.

Signalbox · 27/09/2022 18:30

sst1234 · 27/09/2022 18:12

Oh a nice bit of whataboutery. So she offers an apology because she got caught, so it doesn’t matter anymore.

It’ll be interesting to hear the exact circumstances of what happened. On the Beeb it says it was a Q&A so presumably she was responding to a question. I wonder how many people were there and if there was any pushback? If not it could suggest that this is an acceptable opinion within Labour.

derxa · 27/09/2022 18:34

Equally she might think that it's a black man letting 'the side' down by being a Tory but, given the Eton connection, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.
Appalling. It's perfectly acceptable to be an old Etonian Tory black man.

OP posts:
sst1234 · 27/09/2022 18:36

The fact that she said that you wouldn’t know he was black if you heard him on the radio is beyond insulting. Because of what it implies. She is saying that black people sound a certain way. That they should sound like they are from the ghetto ‘innit bruv’.

These nasty lefties are actually devastated when a Black or Muslim person does well for themselves. Integrates and makes a place for themselves in sectors, jobs, institutions which are traditionally white. It’s because it goes against their narrative. They are never happier than when ethnic minorities are downtrodden victims living upto the stereotypes. They don’t want to pull you up, they want stamp on you harder and tell you where your place is. Because they build their entire cause, reason for being where they are on the victim status of minorities.

Imagine if there was another group of people who systematically wanted to sustain the victim status and poor circumstances of minorities. There is a name for people who treat minorities like this.

EmmaH2022 · 27/09/2022 18:36

BMW6 · 27/09/2022 17:13

Bloody hell, she may as well have called him a coconut. How peculiar to think your ethnicity would define your political leaning.

Exactly.

gnilliwdog · 27/09/2022 18:37

myleftventricle · 27/09/2022 18:29

Did you actually bother to read anything I wrote? I've acknowledged that Boris is racist. And I've acknowledged that Huq might be but I've also (tried to) explain what I think she was trying to get at. There is a difference between an excuse and a reason. Maybe you should try to be a little less closed-minded.

As the discussion was about whether KK's ethnicity would affect his policy decisions in the mini budget i.e. whether they would be beneficial to black people living in Britain. I think she was trying to say that just because he is a black man, it doesn't mean his policies will be sympathetic to the issues black communities face. A bit like just because a government minister is female, it doesn't mean her policies will be sympathetic to women's issues. She then made it worse by seeming to conclude that his privileged background means he doesn't comprehend issues with poverty and deprivation in the black community. That's how I understood it, and I don't think she is a racist. It was probably unwise to answer that question at all, since you would need to be a mind reader to know whether KK's ethnicity has any bearing on his policy decisions at all. There is no excuse for her wording, but I think she just put her foot in her mouth and has apologised.

EmmaH2022 · 27/09/2022 18:40

myleftventricle "All the worst bits of white privilege, only he's black. I can see her point but she made it really badly.

Equally she might think that it's a black man letting 'the side' down by being a Tory but, given the Eton connection, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt."


there's so much wrong here, I don't know where to start, but you'd hate me and want to call me a coconut so 🤷🏻‍♀️

sst1234 · 27/09/2022 18:41

It is astonishing how so many people on this thread are falling over themselves trying to find excuses for such bigotry. ‘Oh she just chose the wrong words’, ‘oh she must have meant something else’.

Just shows how prevalent Racism is. And the worst kind is this insidious apologist attitude because these people pass themselves off as the opposite to Racist.

catandcoffee · 27/09/2022 18:45

Forget about Politics and concentrate on
" You wouldn't think he was a black man if you heard him on radio "
it's obvious what she means...he doesn't 'sound black ' can someone enlighten me HOW black men are meant to sound ?

She's a nasty piece of racist shit.

andtheweedonkey · 27/09/2022 18:46

She was completely set up.

I'll still vote labour.

badbaduncle · 27/09/2022 18:47

She points at his privilege and forgets she went to a private school in Notting Hill and Cambridge University! Unbelievable and gross hypocrisy.

BloodyHellKen · 27/09/2022 18:49

waffless · 27/09/2022 16:27

Labour want the black people poor and uneducated. Good luck with them if they get elected. They think they own the minorities. Remember what Emma Dent C said about Shaun Bailey.

I basically just said the same but MN decided to delete my post.

I am glad Huq has had the whip removed as what she said was unacceptable and racist.

“If you hear him on the Today programme, you wouldn’t know he is black.”

If you are listening to someone on the radio, what their skin colour is shouldn't be an issue. To suggest it would matter if you can identify what race someone is from what they say and how they say it is racist. What they are saying is the important thing surely.

I would like Huq to explain why we should think about his race if we're listening to him on the radio because as an MP I'm more interested in his competence.

badbaduncle · 27/09/2022 18:52

This woman has a history of bigotry: www.jewishnews.co.uk/labour-mp-rupa-huq-taunted-employee-over-star-of-david-badge-report-claims-2/

Snoozer11 · 27/09/2022 18:53

Many black people in the media and political system are from privilege.

It always makes me wince when you hear people like say they had to work 10x as hard to get to where they are, when the door would never be opened at all if you went to a state school. Or they had absolutely nothing and grew up in a cold, damp flat, despite their parents sending all their kids to expensive private schools.

Wishyfishy · 27/09/2022 18:54

I’m really impressed how swiftly KS always seems to deal with issues like this.
It’s right she should lose the whip.

Mxflamingnoravera · 27/09/2022 19:01

It's an interesting one, Rupa Huq Is also a person of colour, I've heard black people use this kind of statement to another as an insult to each other.

It does make me wonder why Huq thought it would be an ok thing to say, in public at a Labour Party conference.
Do you think she forgot who was going to hear it or is it a common insult in her family or friendship groups or even within her peers in the party? It absolutely unacceptable and Starmer was right to suspend the whip.

I hope she apologised to Kwateng personally as well as to her party and the public. I'm no lover of him or his budget but to link it to race is appalling.

Signalbox · 27/09/2022 19:05

“On being challenged, I sought to expand with a poor choice of words, which I retract,” she added. “I fell entirely short of my convictions on this occasion, therefore I will be seeking out and completing anti-racism and bias training.”

I wonder what she’ll learn on her anti-racism training? It could potentially make matters worse.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/27/rupa-huq-has-labour-whip-suspended-after-kwarteng-comments

EmmaH2022 · 27/09/2022 19:13

Signal "I wonder what she’ll learn on her anti-racism training? It could potentially make matters worse."

someone here posted the other day that she was almost in tears at something similar because of all the questions about her colour.

God, I miss the 90s.

LadyWithLapdog · 27/09/2022 19:20

KS dealt with it swiftly.

Tories? They’d laugh and call it virtue signalling or wokeism or some such.

LadyWithLapdog · 27/09/2022 19:22

KK is a fucking economically incompetent moron and his policies will have us* all poorer.

*unless you’re already rolling in it

Rinatinabina · 27/09/2022 19:27

It’s an insult and she knows it, it’s meant to mock him for “acting white” yup may as well as call him a coconut. Boris johnson being an utter dickhead doesn’t excuse this kind of thing. She is an ethnic minority trying to other another ethnic minorities for not being politically aligned to her. a boring old trope used to humiliate “non conformists” and discourage other ethnic minorities from sticking their head above the parapet.

It may sound harmless if you are white but if you are an ethnic minority you should know how sinister this way of thinking really is. When I was a kid it was levelled at many an asian woman who thought she should be in charge of her own life or liked a drink or smoked or wore what she wanted - “you want to be like a white woman”. The not really black charge is the same bollocks. It’s often used as a shaming tactic, traitor to your people nonsense.

JustDanceAddict · 27/09/2022 19:35

Props to Starmer for dealing with this swiftly.
not sure how anyone can excuse what she said.

Madamecastafiore · 27/09/2022 19:39

catandcoffee · 27/09/2022 18:45

Forget about Politics and concentrate on
" You wouldn't think he was a black man if you heard him on radio "
it's obvious what she means...he doesn't 'sound black ' can someone enlighten me HOW black men are meant to sound ?

She's a nasty piece of racist shit.

No I think she means what he is saying shouldn't be said by a black man as all black mens principles should obviously align because they're black.

EmmaH2022 · 27/09/2022 19:41

Madame she's essentially repeating the Joe Biden "you ain't black" comment which also gave me the rage, obvs.

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