Keir Starmer today dodged stripping the Labour whip from an MP who reposted a message suggesting Kemi Badenoch was linked to ‘white supremacy’.
Dawn Butler had appeared to share a message describing ‘Badenochism’ as ‘white supremacy in blackface’.
Ms Butler swiftly deleted her retweet of a post from Nigerian-British author Nels Abbey about the prospect of Ms Badenoch becoming Tory leader.
But amid demands for the whip to be removed, Sir Keir merely stressed that she should ‘not have said what she did’.
Speaking to journalists at the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow, he said: ‘She shouldn’t have said what she did and she has deleted it and quite right too.’
The comments came after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the contents of the post as ‘clearly appalling’.
Ms Cooper said she had not seen the post, but when read excerpts from it, she told LBC: ‘I clearly strongly disagree with that.’
Dawn Butler had appeared to share a tweet describing Ms Badenoch as a ‘member of white supremacy’s black collaborator class’
Ms Butler swiftly deleted her retweet of a post from Nigerian-British author Nels Abbey about the prospect of Ms Badenoch (pictured yesterday) becoming Tory leader
Ms Butler has been strongly criticised by Conservative figures, with several calling for her to lose the Labour whip.
Ben Obese-Jecty, who was elected as MP for Huntingdon in July, said Ms Butler was ‘not alone on the Government benches in holding this view of Kemi’.
He said: ‘This will be a test to see whether Keir Starmer removes the whip, or effectively condones Butler’s abhorrent approval of this smear.’
The Home Secretary was pressed on why no action had been taken against Ms Butler.
She said: ‘As I said, I haven’t seen the post and I think those sorts of issues around party issues, those are always ones for the whip.’
Asked whether the words in the post had a ‘racist sentiment’, Ms Cooper said: ‘The words that you have read out are clearly appalling and I would strongly disagree with them.
‘So, I haven’t seen the post. I don’t know the circumstances around it but I think we should congratulate Kemi Badenoch on her election.
‘I will continue to disagree with her on all sorts of issues, but, nevertheless, I congratulate her on her election.’
Sir Keir has previously suspended the whip from Labour MPs in response to comments about senior black Conservative politicians.
In 2022, he suspended Rupa Huq from the party for describing then-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng as ‘superficially’ black.
Speaking to journalists at the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow, Sir Keir said: ‘She shouldn’t have said what she did and she has deleted it and quite right too.’
Ms Huq apologised and had the whip restored six months later.
Other Labour figures, including Sir Keir and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, hailed Ms Badenoch’s election as the first black leader of a major UK party as a historic moment.
In later posts, Mr Abbey said his original comments had been ‘clearly satirical’ and ‘intended as a sketch’, but defended Ms Butler saying she ‘may not welcome the ascendancy of an extremely right-wing reactionary black person’.
He added: ‘Because of stuff like this, which is vehement political disagreement, it is both fair and to be expected that many black people may not view Badenoch as (leader of the opposition) to be a ‘proud moment for our nation’ in the same way as, say, Keir Starmer does (or is politically mandated to).’
He also wrote: ‘Yvette Cooper should have found out the context of the piece before passing judgment. Otherwise she risks creating a chilling effect on ethnic minority voices.’
There were also fresh calls for the PM to take action over Ms Butler’s sharing of the post.
Conservative MP Saqib Bhatti told GB News: ‘It’s a real shame that the Left can’t accept that there are people who think differently to them, and that ethnic minority MPs don’t always conform to the ideals that they want us to.
‘We are independent thinkers and we can get far in life based on our own merit.
‘I think this is really damaging not just to the fabric of society but also to the basis of trust in our politicians and I think Keir Starmer should really investigate this and follow due process and be consistent.’
