Tories Demand Labour MP Rupa Huq Lose Whip For Calling Kwasi Kwarteng 'Superficially Black'

Labour says Huq's remarks were "clearly totally inappropriate".
UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor via PA Media

The Conservative Party has demanded Keir Starmer remove the Labour whip from one of his MPs for making “racist comments” about Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rupa Huq, the MP for Ealing Central and Acton, said the chancellor was “superficially” black.

In a letter to Starmer, Tory chairman Jake Berry called on him to kick Huq out of the parliamentary party.

Huq made the remarks during a fringe event at Labour’s conference in Liverpool on Monday titled: “What’s next for Labour’s agenda on race?”

In an audio recording of the event heard by HuffPost UK, she said of Kwarteng: “Superficially he is a black man.”

She added: “He went to Eton I think he went to a very expensive prep school... if you hear him on the Today programme you wouldn’t know he is black.”

A Labour Party spokesperson told HuffPost UK that Huq’s remarks were “clearly totally inappropriate”.

HuffPost Uk has approached Huq for comment.

She told The Guardian she did “stand by” her comments and was arguing the colour of someone’s skin does not make them progressive.

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