MP Rupa Huq is understood to have been suspended from the Labour Party after facing criticism from colleagues for describing Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng as “superficially” black. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was under pressure to remove the whip from the politician over the remarks that were criticised by Angela Rayner and David Lammy as well as Tories.
In audio published online, Ms Huq can be heard discussing Mr Kwarteng’s elite school background, before adding that “you wouldn’t know he is black” when listening to him on the radio. The comments were made at a fringe event at the Labour conference in Liverpool on Monday about the about the man who earlier this month became Britain’s first black Chancellor.
Labour sources told the PA news agency Ms Huq has been administratively suspended from the party, and has therefore lost the party whip.
