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A racist outburst from a racist family in a racist party
It comes as no surprise that despite living in a multicultural city that has come leaps and bounds since the abolishment of slavery, we are still dealing with the residual effects of a white English, colonial mentality. This was made extremely clear when Tory MP Anne Marie Morris described Britain leaving the EU without a deal as a "real n**** in the woodpile."
The statement came as the 60-year-old MP for Newton Abbot was speaking at an event in the East India Club, where she was discussing what financial services deal the UK would strike with the EU after 2019.
In a audio recording released by the Huffington Post, the Oxford graduate said: "Now I’m sure there will be many people who’ll challenge that, but my response and my request is look at the detail, it isn’t all doom and gloom."
“Now we get to the real n***** in the woodpile which is, in two years what if there is no deal."
The phrase used by Morris originates from the Deep South in the US, it refers to slaves that had to hide from slave owners as they fought for their freedom, by fleeing to the north. Unfortunately, by the 20th century, the statement began to be used to describe a hidden fact or problem.
Despite the disturbing history behind the remark, none of Morris's peers, including Tory MPs Bill Cash and John Redwood reacted when she made the statement.
Since Morris's speech became public she has faced criticism from several parliament members. Labour MP Andrew Gwynne described Morris's use of language as "outrageous and completely unacceptable" behaviour. While Chuka Umunna tweeted:
Speechless, not just at the remark being made but also at the reported lack of a reaction from the Tories there. Utterly appalling. https://t.co/aYcZtA8n9u
— Chuka Umunna (@ChukaUmunna) July 10, 2017
However, it seems that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, in June, Morris's partner and electoral agent Roger Kendrick said: " that the crisis in education was due entirely to non-British born immigrants and their birth rates."
It is also worth noting that this isn't the first time that a Tory MP has been caught using the N-word. At least 7 other MPs have used the word publicly: John Townend (1993), George Gardiner (1993), Councillor David Viney (2001), Lord Dixon-Smith (2008), Councillor Robert Fraser (2010),Councillor Gerry Forsbrey (2012), Councillor Peter Edwards (2014), plus Labour MP Ronnie Calvin (2009).
Roger Kendrick and Anne Marie Morris
Morris's lukewarm apology has done little to de-escalate the situation, and as the New Statesman pointed out, the MP's use of wording reveals her " quiet exasperation that anyone could be upset by her supposedly unwitting choice of words. We are also supposed to accept that this turn of phrase was “unintentional” when all the indications are that she believed it was an excellent way to describe an irritant."
Like Rhodri Philipps, the latest Viscount who offered £5,000 to anyone who would run over and kill anti--Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, (who also quickly backtracked with a shaky apology when he was faced with jail time), shows that from the very extreme and to the 'supposedly' mild racist language used today, this archaic and atypical colonial mentality is not welcome in today's modern Britain any longer.
