A TORY MP who sent her colleagues laughing by making a joke about sending Scots to the “colonies” as slaves will appear on the BBC’s Question Time tonight.
The broadcaster’s flagship politics show will see Solicitor General Lucy Frazer joined by SNP MP Alyn Smith, Labour MP Lucy Powell, the Institute for Economic Affair's Emily Carver and commentator Mo Hussein.
A clip of Frazer joking about enslaved Scots during her 2015 maiden speech in the Commons has gone viral online several times over the years.
The MP for South East Cambridgeshire told the Chamber: “[Cambridgeshire] is the home of Oliver Cromwell, who defeated the Scots at Dunbar, incorporated Scotland into his Protectorate and transported the Scots as slaves to the colonies.
@scotnational Tory MP Lucy Frazer appeared on Question Time last night - you won't believe what she said about Scots in 2015! 😡 #indyref2 #scottish #scotland ♬ original sound - The National
“Now there is an answer to the West Lothian question – but not one that of course I would recommend.”
Her Tory colleagues then erupted into laughter.
Frazer has since apologised for the comments, saying in the aftermath she had received several furious messages from Scots on her Facebook page.
“I am extremely sorry for any offence I have caused,” she told the Sunday Herald. “That was not my intention. I have the highest regard for Scotland and the Scottish people.”
Historian Dr Tanja Bueltmann criticised Fraser’s comments at the time – calling them “ill-judged”.
"Slavery has a long history all around the world - and one that, sadly, still continues in too many places to this day,” she wrote in a blog post.
"That fact alone, if nothing else, should be sufficient enough to prevent politicians from using a reference to slavery for taking cheap political jibes at the opposite side. Apparently not.”
A spokesperson for the SNP also called the speech – and its accompanying “sneering laughter” – “pretty distasteful”.
