Wes Streeting blasts Nigel Farage's silence after 'racist' comments from Reform MP
After sparking a backlash, Reform MP Sarah Pochin said she hadn't meant to offend anyone with her rant about diversity in advertising and the comments were 'phrased poorly'
Wes Streeting has blasted a Reform MP for making "racist" complaints about ads "full of Black people, full of Asian people".
The Health Secretary said Sarah Pochin's remarks on TalkTV were a "disgrace" and said the silence from Nigel Farage on the row "says it all". Deputy PM David Lammy said the Reform leader should sack her over the "terribly racist" remarks.
Ms Pochin apologised for offence she may have caused by saying "it drives me mad when I see adverts full of Black people, full of Asian people".
Amid a major backlash, she said she hadn't meant to offend anyone and the comments were "phrased poorly". But the Runcorn and Helsby MP doubled down on her claim that many adverts are "unrepresentative of British society".
Today, Mr Streeting said: "She's only sorry that she's been caught and called out, and she said the quiet bit loud." The top minister, who represents Ilford North, said he visited a school in his constituency on Friday where teenage boys told him of the appalling racism they suffered.
Mr Streeting said there had been a return of "1970s/1980s style racism that I thought we had left in the history books". He went on: "The only way we're going to defeat this racism is to call it out and confront it for what it is, and for the decent majority of this country to stand against it, as we have always done.
"I think what she said was a disgrace. I think it was racist, and the deafening silence from her party leader says it all. Reform is a party who think that our flag only belongs to some of us who look like me, not all of us who have built this country, built its success."
Mr Lammy told reporters on Sunday: "Her statements were mean, were nasty and were racist. Our country is so much better than this. Unbelievably nasty statements.
"All of us are neighbours in this country. All of us, recognise the contribution of the Windrush generation, black Britons particularly in so many areas of our life.
"These were terribly racist remarks. Nigel Farage should sack her effectively and certainly say something and apologise for what she has said. I'm disgusted by what she said, not just on behalf of myself or my family or the people of London, but on behalf of our country."
The row began on a TalkTV phone-in, when Ms Pochin was responding to a caller called Stuart, who complained about the demographics of advertising. The MP said he was "absolutely right" and "it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people".
She said: “It doesn’t reflect our society and I feel that your average white person, average white family is not represented anymore in TV advertising.
"We are talking about adverts, and how many times do you look at an advert and think ‘there’s not a single white person on it. Actually it is, it’s something that has happened, I believe because of the woke liberati that goes on inside this sort of arty farty world, and it when it comes to northern towns like Runcorn that I represent, it is just not representative of the rest of the country.
“It might be fine inside the M25 but it’s definitely not representative of the rest of the country.”
But in a later statement, she said she was trying to say the advertising industry had gone "DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) mad".
She said: "My comments were phrased poorly and I apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention.
"The point I was trying to make is that the British advertising agency world have gone DEI mad and many adverts are now unrepresentative of British society as a whole. I will endeavour to ensure my language is more accurate going forward."
Zia Yusuf, the head of policy for Reform UK, urged viewers to "listen to the whole thing" and said the TalkTV caller had been "rightfully upset about the massive under representation of some groups in television advertising, and significant over representation of others".
He added: "I know Sarah extremely well, she's a lovely person. She's apologised, rightly, because it was poorly phrased as she said.
"But as I said, Stuart who called in about under representation of some people on television and over representation of others, I think is a very valid point we must be able to talk about."
Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson said: “Sarah Pochin’s so-called apology was nothing more than a shameless attempt to dodge responsibility for her own words. Instead of showing a shred of remorse, she’s doubled down and tried to excuse the inexcusable.
"Nigel Farage keeps insisting that racism has no place in his party. Now is his chance to prove it - he must withdraw the whip or concede that Reform tolerates blatant racism.”