Boris Johnson admitted 'the race thing's difficult for me', report chair claims
Boris Johnson's "bad track record" of statements on race meant he had a "problem" responding to a controversial report on racial disparities in the UK, it has been claimed.
Lord Sewell, chair of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, claims the former PM conceded: "The race thing's difficult for me".
The claims were made in an interview in The House magazine, Parliament's in-house publication.
Lord Sewell reportedly said former prime minister Mr Johnson's "bad track record" on statements on race left him with a "problem" over how to respond to the report when it came out in 2021, adding that he said in a meeting "the race thing's difficult for me".
A spokesman for Mr Johnson said there had been a "misunderstanding", saying Mr Johnson had an "excellent track record", but had "properly" declined a suggestion that he should present the report himself, to keep it independent of government.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
"He can't... deliver a nuanced argument about race given his track record," Lord Sewell also reportedly told The House.
Published in March 2021, the landmark Government-backed review of racial disparities in Britain was commissioned in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Mr Johnson's spokesman said there was a "misunderstanding" (Jonathan Buckmaster)But some of its findings proved controversial, particularly Lord Sewell's remarks in the foreword that "we no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities", and a suggestion that it found there was no evidence of "institutional racism".
Critics accused it of being culturally deaf, out of step with public opinion and "steeped in denial".
Lord Sewell has defended the report, and questioned whether critics have actually read it.
Lord Sewell has now also claimed that he asked David Lammy to join the commission, and that the Labour frontbencher was keen, but then having spoken to party leader Sir Keir Starmer said he could not, according to The House.
The commission's chairman reportedly contacted Mr Lammy to prevent accusations of bias, with Lord Sewell saying he went to "David Lammy and asked him to come on the commission.
"What happened is that he wanted to do it. He then went and spoke to Starmer. And then he said, 'oh well because of the politics I can't come on'."
A Labour source told the PA news agency this was "utter nonsense" and Mr Lammy never intended to be part of the commission.
Lord Sewell also says in the article that minister for equalities Kemi Badenoch "wasn't that comfortable with" the commission's recommendation calling for offences of low-level Class B drug possession to be diverted into public health solutions.
Greggs, Costa & Pret coffees have 'huge differences in caffeine', says report
But Lord Sewell adds she "realised she had to take an independent report and run with it".
When the commission's report was first published, Mr Johnson, then prime minister, said: "The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was launched to conduct a detailed,>Read More
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
