Farrukh Dhondy | Of Labour, Tories and a storm in a teacup in Britain over racism, MPs

“We’ve heard the burdened donkey start to bray But is the sound a curse, or does he pray To God complaining that if every dog Can have one, why can’t donkeys have a day? I pose the question because the above-mentioned storm that has broken out is to do, in the highest ranks of the governance of this precious stone set in the silver sea, with the interpretation of the following quote: “It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV, and you’re just like I hate, you just want to hate all black women because she’s there, and I don’t hate all black women at all, but I think she should be shot.” This, The Guardian reported, was what a capitalist called Frank Hester, donor of 10 million pounds to the Tory Party, said to a private gathering in 2019. Nevertheless, the Labour Party leader, Sir Keir Starmer, the person who suspended her from the party, spoke this week after the Guardian’s report, very strongly in her favour, calling Hester’s words “racist”. Until… until Kemi Badenoch, a Tory Cabinet minister, of Nigerian origin and so, like Dianne, a black woman, spoke out calling Hester’s remarks “racist”. For me, gentle reader, Hester’s vicious nonsense should be condemned as “racist” though it doesn’t seem to be a slur against every person of colour -- but then “mind of the beholder” and all that!