A senior Conservative peer has accused Suella Braverman of using “racist rhetoric” after the home secretary singled out British-Pakistani men as being of special concern in relation to child sexual abuse cases.
Lady Warsi, the first Asian person to chair the Tory party, said Conservatives cannot “use the pigment in their skin as a defence mechanism to say they are not racist”, adding “brown people can be racist too”.
Speaking to LBC on Tuesday night Warsi did not specify which remarks she was referring to as racist, but highlighted Braverman’s comments on small boats crossing the Channel, and her singling out British-Pakistani men over concerns about grooming gangs.
Warsi said Braverman’s remarks have “got to stop” and called on Rishi Sunak to send a “really strong message that this kind of rhetoric … has got to stop”.
“I think the prime minister has to get a really strong message that this kind of rhetoric, whether it’s on small boats, whether it’s the stuff she was saying on the weekend which is not based on evidence, not nuanced, not kind of explanatory in any way, it has got to stop.”
She added: “I don’t think any of my colleagues can use the pigment in their skin as some sort of a defence mechanism to say they are not racist. You know brown people can be racist too.”
Asked if she was calling the home secretary racist, she said: “I am calling her rhetoric racist. I am.”
Albie Amankona, a Tory campaigner who co-founded the race relations group Conservatives Against Racism For Equality, said on Twitter: “I don’t understand how it’s possible for one person, Suella Braverman, to find themselves almost weekly, at the centre of so much racial insensitivity. I’ve said it before, there is something not right there.”
Warsi’s comments follow letters sent to Sunak calling for him to act over Braverman’s rhetoric, including from the British Pakistan Foundation, which accused the home secretary of seeking to portray all British-Pakistani men in a “divisive and dangerous way”.
On 2 April, when outlining government measures to tackle grooming gangs Braverman singled out British-Pakistani men as a major source of concern.
She described a “predominance of certain ethnic groups – and I say British-Pakistani males – who hold cultural values totally at odds with British values, who see women in a demeaned and illegitimate way and pursue an outdated and frankly heinous approach in terms of the way they behave”.
Braverman has used inflammatory language when referring to asylum seekers and criminal gangs, claiming “British-Pakistani men are members of criminal grooming gangs abusing white British girls”.
On Tuesday, the home secretary caused further controversy after a Home Office source claimed she had criticised Essex police for wasting resources when officers seized a collection of golliwog dolls from a pub in Grays as part of a suspected hate crime. The police force subsequently denied it had been approached by the Home Office.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The home secretary has been clear that all despicable child abusers must be brought to justice. And she will not shy away from telling hard truths, particularly when it comes to the grooming of young women and girls in Britain’s towns who have been failed by authorities over decades.
“As the home secretary has said, the vast majority of British-Pakistanis are law-abiding, upstanding citizens but independent reports were unequivocal that in towns like Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford cultural sensitivities have meant thousands of young girls were abused under the noses of councils and police.
“That’s why we have announced a raft of measures, including a new police taskforce and mandatory reporting, to ensure this horrific scandal can never happen again, and bring members of grooming gangs to justice for the victims.”
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