quarta-feira, 28 de fevereiro de 2024

Lee Anderson: Here's exactly why I won't apologise and bow to the woke mob EXCLUSIVE: Lee Anderson writes for the Express on the race row that led to him losing the Tory whip.

 

 

Lee Anderson: Here's exactly why I won't apologise and bow to the woke mob

EXCLUSIVE: Lee Anderson writes for the Express on the race row that led to him losing the Tory whip.

By LEE ANDERSON

21:00, Tue, Feb 27, 2024 | UPDATED: 21:39, Tue, Feb 27, 2024

Lee Anderson

https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1871463/lee-anderson-comment-sadiq-khan-islamophobia

 

Lee Anderson insists he is not a racist as a fierce Islamophobia row engulfs the Tory party

 

Over the past week, I have been accused of making racist comments by Mayor Sadiq Khan, the media, the Labour Party and sadly some members of my Parliamentary party.

 

This is all despite the fact I have not made one single racist comment.

 

The simple fact is I am not a racist, but in this day and age the opposition are very quick to use the race card for political advantage and, unfortunately, some of my colleagues also fell into the race trap.

 

As I have said on numerous occasions over the past week, 99.9 percent of our Muslim friends in the UK are decent, hardworking and law-abiding people who just want to get on with their lives.

 

 

 

 

The point I was trying to make last week was that the Mayor of London has lost control of our capital city as the extremists who hide under the Islam banner take over our streets in their attempt to change the course of our democracy.

 

These extremists are often labelled as Islamists which, on reflection, is totally unfair on Muslims in general and we must make sure that our language reflects this.

 

These extremists are not welcomed by our Muslim friends as they cast a dark shadow on the millions of decent Muslims in our country who have embraced our way of life.

 

To be clear when I call out these extremists, I am calling out a minute percentage of a group of people and because of this I have been called racist and Islamophobic.

 

Let’s start with the accusation of racism: I am not a racist and Islam is not a race. If you want to practise Islam, then it does not matter what your skin colour is.

 

We have African Muslims, Chinese Muslims, Indian Muslims, and British Muslims. I could go on and on.

 

The simple fact is I am not a racist but in this day and age the opposition are very quick to use the race card for political advantage and unfortunately some of my colleagues also fell into the race trap.

 

My point is Islam is a religion not a race so I cannot legitimately be accused of racism if I have made a remark based on a person’s religious background.

 

That said I do not recall ever criticising anyone over their religion, I literally have no interest at all in anyone’s religion and to make my point even clearer I have no interest at all in any religion.

 

I do not have any faith; I wish I had but I don’t, and I do not give a toss about what God anyone prays to.

 

The next charge on my rap sheet is that I am Islamophobic. I was challenged this week by a man who said my comments were Islamophobic, so I asked him to define what Islamophobic meant.

 

After staring at me for 20 seconds and literally not having a clue what Islamophobia was, he just said: "It means you're racist"

 

Now as I understand it Islamophobia is a fear of Islam or its teachings. I am not in fear of either and as I have said before I have no interest at all in a person’s religious beliefs.

 

What does concern me is the people labelled as "Islamist extremists" who blight our streets in London on a weekly basis, and genuine Muslims distance themselves from these groups of people.

 

I grew up in the 70s and 80s when we were genuinely concerned about IRA attacks on British soil.

 

People of my age and older will remember the Birmingham Pub bombings and the other attacks on British soil which saw innocent people murdered.

 

The Irish Republican Army fought a long and bloody battle, and they were despised for their wicked actions, but did we blame the people who lived in the Irish Republic?

 

Did we blame people like members of my family who lived in Ireland at the time and wanted nothing to do with the hostilities and violence?

 

No, we did not. My point is that it is right to call out the actions of a minority of extremists, but it is wrong to label people of the same faith as extremists.

 

Sadly, Sadiq Khan has resorted to playing the race card and accused me of stoking up division yet sits idly by and has not yet condemned the shocking scenes we witnessed last week on Parliament Square.

 

If he has then I stand corrected. Seeing the vile slogan ‘From the river to the sea’ projected onto the Elizabeth Tower is the most shocking thing I have seen in my workplace.

 

For our police to stand by and watch the Houses of Parliament attacked by this antisemitic slogan which calls for the annihilation of a race of people is beyond words.

 

As an MP I felt powerless sat inside Parliament and seeing the news updates on my phone. It made me feel like the mob outside had gained control of proceedings inside, and when the Speaker changed the normal Parliamentary process on the opposition day debate it felt like we had capitulated, which we had.

 

To give into the baying mob is not only unforgivable but it also only encourages these extremists to return time and time again as they know there will be hardly any consequences to their actions.

 

The Mayor of London should be making sure that our streets are safe and people are not living in fear.

 

He is doing neither and has used my comments as a distraction to cover up his own failings.

 

I do not believe the mayor is an Islamist, I just think he does not care about our beautiful city and people in high places should have more sense than to make these outrageous claims that I am racist or Islamophobic.

 

But then again, they are doing it for political gain and some people are falling for it.

 

If I see injustice on our streets, I will not do a quick check on what religion or race the protesters are or the people in charge of safety, I will just call it out straight away.

 

That does not make me a racist.

 

People say words matter and I agree but actions speak louder than words.

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