I called Sarah Pochin’s comments racist – I was told I couldn’t call her one

The thing about racism is, you must call it out – otherwise it spreads like wildfire.

On Saturday, Reform MP Sarah Pochin complained about adverts being ‘full of black people, full of Asian people’. 

I was appalled by her comments, which she subsequently apologised for, and I was pleased to see the government take a strong stance, with the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Health Secretary all publicly labelled her words racist. 

It’s exactly how I described them in the House of Commons yesterday.

Pochin’s so-called apology simply doesn’t cut it. It’s not enough to simply say sorry ‘for any offence caused.’ She has to apologise, explicitly, for making racist comments. 

As I said in parliament yesterday, I don’t believe her words were, as she claims, ‘phrased poorly’. 

They were in fact, to me, deliberately racist, centring a white supremist, not to mention wholly incorrect, view.

Hearing her say ‘it drives me mad’ conjured the image of her shouting at the telly every time she sees a Black or Brown face.

If so, I can’t imagine how she feels in Parliament looking at the estimated 90 Black, Asian and minority ethnic MPs. Or imagine a Black or Brown person in her constituency will now feel going to see her for help, wondering if they are driving her mad. 

As MP for Brent East, one of the most diverse constituencies in the country, I am clear that you can be Black and Brown and be British.

I thought that went without saying, but it seems clear that Pochin doesn’t think of Black or Brown families as being representative of this country. 

In her own words, the number of Black and Brown people featuring on adverts ‘doesn’t reflect our society’ and ‘your average white person, average white family’ is not ‘represented anymore’.

Such a statement would be shocking coming from someone shouting in the street, never mind from a Member of Parliament.

As MPs, we are all bound by the Nolan Principles of Public Life, standards of behaviour for public office holders. And as I said in Parliament yesterday, I believe the MP’s words breached those principles.

In Parliament, I was able to call Pochin’s comments racist, but I was unable to call the person making the comments racist. 

While I reluctantly withdrew them, and understand why these rules exist, I am clear that there must now be consequences for her too. Pochin’s comments cannot go unpunished.

People are not stupid; they see it for what it is. There are far many good people in the world than racists and they are not just, as Pochin said, from the ‘woke liberati’ in the ‘arty-farty world’.

Pochin also brought in the now-standard attack on London we see from right-wingers, saying that the advertising that drives her mad ‘Might be fine inside the M25, but it’s definitely not representative of the rest of the country.’

I say: stop putting down the rest of the country, everywhere might not be as progressive as London but that doesn’t mean we can hide behind them to make comments like this.

She needs to get used to the fact that people are often promoted on excellence and not the colour of one’s skin, and in a fair world where that happens, diversity will shine through and everyone will feel represented  – whether in advertising, in parliament, or in their daily lives. .

It is incumbent on all of us to bravely call out the racist comments- and we will. 

We will fight back, together. The generation who has lived through it in the 60s, the next generation who fought back in the 80’s and the new generation for whom diversity is just a fact of life they appreciate. 

Nigel Farage insists that racism has no place in his party. Well, words mean nothing without action. It is time for him to prove it.

Farage must withdraw the whip from the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, or concede that Reform tolerates and promotes blatant racism.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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