Diane Abbott’s racism is embarrassing!

Below is the full text of my guest blogpost on the Brackenell Blog HERE

I am black and I am a Conservative and very proud of both. And although at first glance one has nothing to do with the other if we look closely the two are intertwined – have always been in harmony and very much complement one another. Black culture whether African, Caribbean or American is conservative by nature and in my case it’s double because I am half Arab – so being a conservative comes natural to me as it does to most black people and the notion that they can only support socialist ideals and left of centre views is a myth.

The basic values of work hard look after yourself and your own help your community and those who can’t support themselves, give whatever you can from your time and money to those who need it and share your knowledge with the young and those who can utilise it, are all basic black traditions. My ancestors in Africa – where there is still little if any welfare state to fall-back on – employed them for centuries and continue to until today. Slaves too, carried these strong traditions and values with them to the Americas, and today Caribbeans and Africans brought them and continue to practice them in the UK. The strong sense of religion and the Church being the centre of most communities is at the heart of conservative ethos.

So when I read that Diane Abbott, the first black female MP in the UK has told a young black woman – who after showing her admiration and appreciation to Ms Abbott asked if she can be of any help – to go and work for a white conservative “You obviously don’t do the black thing, that’s part of being a black conservative”: said Abbott. Initially, I too was mortified at the comment – however, this time around I was not so shocked by Abbott’s callous thoughtless remarks. It’s not the first time nor will it be the last time for us to hear this type of oblivious bigotry from Diane Abbott. Plus it’s a Labour thing all this ‘divide and rule’ and ‘us and them’ business – it’s what they always resort to when they lose the argument – even though, in this occasion; there was no argument to lose. Nevertheless, the racist Abbott could not believe a young Tory supporter can show her adoration, shower her with praise yet at the same time not share her political believes – because in the Us & Them rulebook everything is cut and dry.

What does skin colour have to do with helping out in a constituency or Westminster anyway – one wonders what criteria Dianne Abbott employs when hiring her own staff, or advising constituents ……