REFORM UK MP Suella Braverman was accused of "reinforcing the racist argument" and even "being racist against herself" during a fiery exchange on BBC Question Time after she said she does not consider herself English despite being born in London.
The former Home Secretary came under sustained criticism from audience members and New Statesman journalist Ollie Dugmore during the programme, which saw presenter Fiona Bruce repeatedly challenge Braverman to clarify whether she believed non-white people could identify as English.
The debate began when an audience member suggested political discussion around migration had become increasingly hostile.
"I feel that the migration conversation has really just become about normalising hatred lately," the woman said.
"For example, Rishi Sunak has had to release an article saying why he's English, as if there was ever a doubt on the question.
"And is talking about stopping the boats, and all the people who've been saying, 'let them drown', which is very inhumane. Is that not just legitimising racism and hatred, basically?"
Braverman responded by discussing her own background and identity.
"I was born in London, North London actually, in 1980," she said.
"My parents came as immigrants themselves to this country with nothing. Very grateful to Britain for the hand of friendship that Britain extended to them."
She added: "I've always considered myself British. Of Asian ethnicity, and that's never been something that I would question.
"Of course I'm not English.
"I'm not an English person, I am of Asian origin."
Referring to her recently published book, Braverman said she had traced her family history to India, Mauritius and Kenya.
"Some of my ancestors come from India, via Mauritius and Kenya, all over the world, but they're not English," she said.
"And so it would be misrepresentative of me to co-opt Englishness as an ethnicity."
Braverman continued: "I am British Asian, and that is what millions of people consider themselves."
However, her comments sparked a furious response from another audience member, who said he had experienced decades of being told they were not English despite being born in England.
"I think what you've done is just basically reinforce the racist argument," the audience member said.
"I've been on this planet for 54 years, and the amount of times I've been told I'm not English, even though I was born here. If I'd had a penny for every time I've been given that."
Asked by Bruce whether they considered themselves English, the audience member replied: "Absolutely."
He added: "So what you've done is reinforce the argument.
Braverman responded sarcastically: "I'm being racist against myself, basically. Right, well that makes a lot of sense."
The exchange escalated further when the audience member challenged Braverman's understanding of indigenous identity.
"Do you understand what the word indigenous means?" he asked.
"If you were born here, you're indigenous. Yeah, it's simple."
Later in the programme, journalist Dugmore argued that while Braverman was free to define her own identity, her comments carried wider political implications.
"Suella is entitled to identify however she likes, right?" he said.
"Identity is a personal construct for all of us."
However, he added: "The political function of what she was saying earlier is that you can only be English if you are white. And that, I regret to say it, that is a racist point of view."
Bruce immediately intervened to give Braverman a chance to respond to the allegation.
"Is that your view?" the presenter asked.
"He's saying your view is that you can only be English if you're white."
Braverman replied: "He's saying I'm being racist against myself."
Dugmore interrupted to correct her: "I'm not saying that."
Bruce repeatedly pressed the Reform MP for a direct answer, asking whether someone who was not white could identify as English.
Braverman said: "People can call themselves whatever they want.
"I myself do not call myself English because I am British Asian."
Asked directly whether a person could be English without being white, she answered: "I think that there is an English group of people, a Welsh group of people, and there are Scottish people, and we all unite under a unifying idea of Britishness."
Bruce responded: "I'm not sure you've answered the question."
In a final attempt to gain clarity, the presenter asked again: "Can you call yourself English if you're not white?"
Braverman replied: "I have told you that I don't consider myself to be white."
Bruce concluded: "You're not answering the question."
The Reform MP continued to reject accusations of racism on social media afterwards, insisting that her comments were about her personal identity rather than a judgement on how others choose to identify themselves.
She wrote in response to Dugmore: "You’ve called me racist this evening- albeit in a contorted way- but in doing so, you’ve lowered the tone of the debate with divisive and inflammatory language.
"And absurdly, you’re suggesting that I’m being racist against myself. It’s because of irresponsible language like yours that we in Reform need security.
"The left can keep smearing us as racist for challenging the cosy consensus on mass migration but we will not be bullied into silence."
