Lee Anderson doubles down on criticism of Sadiq Khan

do you accept your comments that you've been called a racist from your party oh I've got a phone call to me your party got problem Mr a sudden phone call to make Lee Anderson's only interview was with GB news where he's a paid presenter why won't you apologize the people you've heard for your comments he's still refusing to apologize for saying islamists had got control of the London mayor sadique Khan he said the wording was clumsy but in a statement also issued through GB news when you think you are right you should never apologize because to do so would be a sign of weakness now this is the first time there's ever been a cabinet in East Yorkshire the Prime Minister convened a cabinet meeting on a factory floor he suspended Lee Anderson from the party whip last week but today was refusing to call his remarks what many others did the words of Lee Anderson would you regard them as islamophobic well I've been very clear that what Le said was wrong it was unacceptable but there's a the difference between wrong and islamophobic were they islamophobic well I think the most important thing is that the words were wrong they were ill judged they were unacceptable I think this is straightforward it's islamophobia and the Prime Minister should call it out for what it is the reason he won't is because he's so weak it's Le Anderson Member of Parliament for ashvi I'm joined by our brilliant PM K believes rishy sunak is fearful of Tory activists who' like their leader to sound more like their political Pinups on the right what's the reaction do you think from conservative party Grassroots to the Lee Anderson story I think I think there there's an element of concern about it but I think in terms of the key issue I think there's real concern amongst the conservative Grassroots and actually um millions of people across the country when it comes to the threat posed by radical Islam in an article in Friday's Daily Telegraph soel braan rishy sunak first Home Secretary wrote that kir stama was in Hawk to the islamists some people look at the tone of what and the language used by Le Anderson there and some of your colleagues as well and they wonder why don't they just join the Reform Party because they seem so close in language in policy Outlook to the Reform Party I think it is absolutely vital that the conservative party over the next um going forward deals very seriously with vo's concerns about immigration and radical Islam and I think that it's vitally important that mainstream parties do that so you agree with the reform party but you think the Tory party is a better vehicle because it gets closer to power I think occasionally some of the things they say I think particularly on things like immigration I might have sort of similar views to my understanding Mr Speaker that so24 application has not been accepted the Fallout from last week's chaotic Commons debate on Gaza continued SMP attacked the speaker for not offering them a replacement debate and said it confirmed their belief he should go you confident of getting your man bringing him down doesn't feel that way at the moment does it the momentum doesn't seem to be building at quite the pace it should it's always going to be the case that it's going to be for the government to decide what happens next and they don't seem to want to go down that route as as we speak well well they don't appear to be willing to do that lots of jobs we were just talking Rishi sunak wanted his announcements on transport infrastructure to top the news today he's yet again watched economic messaging get overshadowed by political storms from within his own party Gary Gibbon so what does the subject of Lee Anderson's comments make of all this here's what the mayor of London sadique Khan said when I asked him for his reaction to the prime minister's handling of the situation well it's been more than two days now since the CIA conservative made comments that are clearly racist anti-muslim and islamophobic there's been still no firm condemnation from Richie sunak the leader of the conservative party and the prime minister or anybody else in a senior position in government I'm unclear why they're unwilling to call out what are clearly islamophobic anti-muslim and racist tropes for for those people who don't understand why what he has said is either islamophobic or racist could you just spell it out no I appreciate that there are many tropes that exist uh that are anti-semitic many of us know those so so-called conspiracies there maybe tropes that exist I know there are in relation to those from the lgbtq plus community and women as well that are clearly misog IC there are also tropes that exist about Muslims the fact that Muslims are taking over uh London the islamification of uh the UK sleeper cells uh londonistan is a common Trope uh used and there are tropes we know about those tropes but also we know the context in the last four months there's been a massive increase in anti-Semitism we stand in allyship and shoulder to shoulder with those Jewish people across the country but there's also been a massive increase in in islamophobia and anti-muslim crimes and these sorts of tropes feed into that so do you think the conservative party and this particular row are now putting people in direct danger well I've spoken I've spoken to Muslims over the last uh three days but over the last few weeks and uh months many of them have got awful experiences in relation to their head scar uh being torn off boys being uh spat upon graffiti on places of worship pig heads being thrown through uh mosque but also I speak to uh young people thinking about getting into politics who are Muslim they are visible minorities and they're scared about the consequences to them and their families if they choose to do so we should be encouraging people to get involved in mainstream politics encouraging communities to unite but here you have a senior conservative saying things that are clearly islamophobic and anti-muslim and the Prime Minister the leader of the the conservative party is failing to firmly condemn them one of the things Lee Anderson said that was wrong was that you were in some way in charge of who gets to protest where um obviously that's a decision for the police but um one thing that critics of yours have said is that you should have criticized these demonstrations that are doing things like bringing Bridges to a standstill uh and and holding up traffic because they are inconvenient intimidating for some people and and becoming a real problem what's your answer to that look there are basically in my view two types of politicians those that play on people's fears and those that address people's fears using this weekend as an example I do condemn any of our bridges being closed down whether it's just up o whether it's Extinction Rebellion or whether it's those who are pro Palestinian protesters if for no other reason but because that emergency services have got to get through those uh bridges that actual Bridge we're talking about tow bridge is not controlled by the Metropolitan Police Service is the city of London uh police and the last time I checked the leader of the city of London wasn't a uh Muslim they had operational Independence for a very good reason just imagine if I had the power to tell the police which marches they could give permission to take ahead or or not what's next me telling the police who they can arrest charge and prosecute me telling the judge who to find guilty or not guilty it's really important we recognize there are this separation of powers but what leaders like the Prime Minister what the senior conservative could have done was to address the fears that may have been articulated by constituents of his or anybody else just finally you're a grown-up politician but when these are personal attacks and that that they are racist in your terms do you find them personally hurtful look I got two daughters and a wife and a mom and siblings and nephews and nieces and it's been it's been a hard weekend it's hard um I worry not about them so much although of course I worry about them but there are millions across our country who are not thinking twice or Thrice about wanting to be a counselor wanting to be an MP wanting to be a mayor they're thinking about what's the purpose of doing whatever you can to be integrated if this is the response you receive I worry about those people across our country visible minorities and Muslims who will be at the receiving end of islamophobia and anti-muslim Hatters as well as those who may have been a mayor an MP and a counselor who now won't do so because of the vitual we reive for no other reason than the color of our skin and the religion we belong to Sadi Khan thank you very much indeed well I also spoke to the former conservative party chair baroness Mary and I asked her why rishy sunak saying Lee Anderson was wrong isn't good enough uh because we wouldn't accept that if we saw anti-Semitism within the labor party we would not be prepared for k just to say it's wrong we would say it is anti-Semitism you cannot deal with something unless you actually call it out and I'm really concerned that the prime minister is so reluctant to call out islamophobia and anti-muslim racism when it's so obvious what does it reveal about your party um I think I'm just really concerned as to whether or not this is somehow an electoral strategy or whether it's just personal Prejudice amongst my colleagues but either way whatever it is it has to be resolved has to be dealt with we cannot have a community of over 4 million being stigmatized and stereotyped and targeted in this way uh as as the Prime Minister said today that we have a responsibility as parliamentarians to to create a sense of ease to not ratchet this up but all I'm seeing is so many of my colleagues using the language of hate using the language of division and pitting Community against community and if the Prime Minister genuinely believes that the job of Parliament Arians is not to do that then he needs to speak to his colleagues and ask them to stop but the reason they won't call it islamophobia is because many in your party disagree with your definition of it you you you're in an argument right now over social media with the woman who's supposed to Champion equality within the government K Baugh um who disagrees with how you see islamophobia um and and therefore doesn't want to use it and wants to talk about anti-muslim hate instead uh you know chrisan there was a time when the Labour party uh spent many many months arguing about the term anti-Semitism arguing about the definition of anti-semitism whether or not they would adopt the definition of anti-semitism and in the end Kicking and Screaming they were brought to the table and they had to deal with the issue of anti-Semitism it seems like my party has leared nothing the definition the agreed definition of islamophobia which has actually been adopted by every political party in this country including the conservative party in Scotland has only not been adopted by the conservatives in West minist lo and behold which is the party which is my in allegations of islamophobia the conservative party in Westminster you know it is really just because they're trying to protect self-interest they know the extent of the problem within our own ranks and they genuinely believe that if they were to adopt this definition then it would mean so many of the colleagues that are currently getting away with anti-muslim racism wouldn't be allowed to do so I mean there's a another controversy over one of your colleagues Paul Scully who wanted to be mayor of London or or the the candidate for mayor of London because he's claiming that there are parts of tower hamlets in London um and parts of Birmingham that are noggo areas because of Doctrine I mean it's not clear what he means but he seems to be talking about Muslim Doctrine I mean what do you make of his comments you know I I can't work out where this is coming from with with Paul I've known Paul for many many years um I always thought he was somebody who was part of the San Middle Ground of the party that he understood the country that we live in um and when I saw these comments you know I was well I was shocked at the comments I was even more shocked that they came from Paul and I'm going to hopefully try and make some time to speak to him and try and understand what this is about I mean look the comments are nonsense as Andy Street the the mayor of the conservative mayor of Birmingham has said that there are no areas well there are no noo areas you know I mean I can't understand where this is even coming from he I think he was particularly talking about a spark Hill in Birmingham and the the the mayor has turned around and said the conservative mayor has turned around and said this is absolute nonsense right come out and these members of parliament need to come out and see what's going on in the real world the Member of Parliament Jess Phillips I think has spoken out and said this is absolute nonsense go out and go into these areas and you know it it for me this is just more division more ratcheting up the hate and it and it's unnecessary and it's got to stop I mean Theresa May once warned the party about being the nasty party I mean is this now looking like not just nasty but racist islamophobic hateful party it breaks my heart to see my party being so toxic in this way it breaks my heart to see them really reflecting the awful populist post-truth politics of the United States uh and it breaks my heart to think that they believe or colleagues believe that you know projecting a somehow rabid races is is what's going to win them votes at the next election the things that are going to win as votes at the next election is explaining what kind of program we have for the United Kingdom you know what we going to do with the economy how we going to improve health care how we going to make sure people can go to hospital and get treated on time how our schools are going to be not crumbling these are the how inflation is going to be under control how people are going to be able to afford to buy a house and because unfortunately we don't have the answers to these big questions we've chosen to fight culture was it's got to stop Baron fary thank you very much thank you well the conservative MP Paul Scully we were discussing this interview has said on X that as someone who has championed British Muslims for a decade he would bow out of the conversation and leave the two sides to argue we asked the government the conservative party and Lee Anderson to come on the program tonight but they all declined

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 77,063

Keywords: politics, sadiq khan, khan, khan london, sadiq khan london, lee anderson, lee anderson comments, islamophobia, anti-muslim, muslim hate crime, islam, conservative party, tories, tory party, uk politics news, uk news, politics latest, channel 4 news, c4 news

Id: _uHOr8fOikY

Length: 14min 26sec (866 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 26 2024