The contents of a tweet a Labour MP appeared to have reposted about Kemi Badenoch are “clearly appalling”, the Home Secretary has said as Sir Keir Starmer faces pressure to remove the whip from the backbencher.
MP Dawn Butler appeared to share a tweet describing Ms Badenoch as a “member of white supremacy’s black collaborator class”.
Ms Butler swiftly deleted her retweet of a post from Nigerian-British author Nels Abbey, which responded to the prospect of Ms Badenoch becoming Tory leader by describing “Badenochism” as “white supremacy in blackface”.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she had not seen the post, but when read excerpts from it, she told LBC: “I clearly strongly disagree with that.”
Ms Butler has been strongly criticised by Conservative figures, with several calling for her to lose the Labour whip.
This will be a test to see whether Keir Starmer removes the whip, or effectively condones Butler’s abhorrent approval of this smear
Ben Obese-Jecty, who was elected as MP for Huntingdon in July, said Ms Butler was “not alone on the Government benches in holding this view of Kemi”.
He said: “This will be a test to see whether Keir Starmer removes the whip, or effectively condones Butler’s abhorrent approval of this smear.”
The Home Secretary was pressed on why no action had been taken against Ms Butler.
She said: “As I said, I haven’t seen the post and I think those sorts of issues around party issues, those are always ones for the whip.”
Asked whether the words in the post had a “racist sentiment”, Ms Cooper said: “The words that you have read out are clearly appalling and I would strongly disagree with them.
“So, I haven’t seen the post. I don’t know the circumstances around it but I think we should congratulate Kemi Badenoch on her election.
“I will continue to disagree with her on all sorts of issues, but, nevertheless, I congratulate her on her election.”
Sir Keir has previously suspended the whip from Labour MPs in response to comments about senior black Conservative politicians.
In 2022, he suspended Rupa Huq from the party for describing then-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng as “superficially” black. Ms Huq apologised and had the whip restored six months later.
Other Labour figures, including Sir Keir and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, hailed Ms Badenoch’s election as the first black leader of a major UK party as a historic moment.
In later posts, Mr Abbey said his original comments had been “clearly satirical” and “intended as a sketch”, but defended Ms Butler saying she “may not welcome the ascendancy of an extremely right-wing reactionary black person”.
He added: “Because of stuff like this, which is vehement political disagreement, it is both fair and to be expected that many black people may not view Badenoch as (leader of the opposition) to be a ‘proud moment for our nation’ in the same way as, say, Keir Starmer does (or is politically mandated to).”
