Coronavirus has changed everything. Make sense of it all with the Waugh Zone, our evening politics briefing. Sign up now.
Matt Hancock has criticised “divisive” Labour MPs who accused Priti Patel of using her own experiences of racism “to gaslight the very real racism faced by Black people”.
The health secretary insisted there is no such thing as “the wrong type” of Black and minority ethnic (BAME) person as he defended “the most diverse government in history”.
Hancock even named a string of Asian, Middle Eastern and Black ministers as he defended Patel for speaking out about her experience of racism.
It follows an exchange between the home secretary and Labour’s Florence Eshalomi about the Black Lives Matter movement, in which Patel said she would not take lectures from the opposition “when it comes to racism, sexism, tolerance for social justice”.
Patel told parliament how she was “frequently called a Paki in the playground” as a child and had been racially abused in the streets.
But in a letter, a group of more than 30 Labour MPs led by Naz Shah told Patel: “Being a person of colour does not automatically make you an authority on all forms of racism.”
They wrote: “Our shared experiences allow us to feel the pain that communities feel, when they face racism, they allow us to show solidarity towards a common cause; they do not allow us to define, silence or impede on the feelings that other minority groups may face.”
Responding to the criticism, Hancock told the daily Downing Street briefing: “Of course Priti Patel was not wrong to talk of her personal experiences of racism.
“I’ve seen this letter and I abhor this divisive identity politics that’s being levelled at Priti Patel.
“I’m incredibly proud of being part of the most diverse government in history.
“I’m very proud to be part of that with Priti and Rishi and Alok and Nadhim and Kemi and Ranil and James and Suella and all the rest.
“And we don’t think that there’s such a thing as the wrong type of BME, we think that people are equal and that’s what we need to see as a society – everybody seeing others as equal.
“I just hope that the debates that are rightly taking place are debates that are all about how we can promote true equality of opportunity and see everybody for the individual that they are.”