British MP Faces Inquiry Over Christian Supremacist Remarks

Posted September 27, 2005
London
27 Sep 2005
IANS
newkerala.com

Controversial British Conservative MP Ann Winterton is at the centre of yet another race row after criticising Prime Minister Tony Blair's "banana republic" immigration policy.

The right-wing MP claimed that Britain was a country where "crime is out of control... and where thousands of illegal immigrants are waved in with no checks on whether they are criminals or potential terrorists".

Lady Winterton also infuriated equality groups by adding that Britain was "still thankfully a predominately white, Christian country".

Her comments were swiftly condemned as "blatantly racist" and Lady Winterton now faces an inquiry by the Commission for Racial Equality.

It is not the first time the MP for Congleton in Cheshire has sparked a furore with her views. She was forced by Tory leader Michael Howard to apologise last year for a sick joke about the drowning of 20 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay.

In 2002, she told 160 diners that Asians were "10 a penny in Britain". Lady Winterton, who is married to Tory MP Sir Nicholas Winterton, made her latest comments in an article about the July 7 London bombings for a Cheshire-based website.

She wrote: "We live in times of tremendous change, but the United Kingdom is still, thankfully, a predominantly white, Christian country.

"Some might say we are now paying the price for the so-called 'benefits' of the multicultural society, the product of almost uncontrolled immigration and the abuse of asylum."

Shantele Janes, director of the Cheshire, Halton and Warrington Racial Equality Council, described the comments as "inaccurate and nothing more than scare-mongering".

She said: "We welcome sensible debates about how all groups can work together to end terrorism, but this is a blame-laying exercise that is incredibly damaging to race relations."

Janes said that Muslims across the country were being victimised for the actions of a few extremists on July 7. She said she had reported Lady Winterton to the Commission for Racial Equality and would be making a complaint to Howard.

She added: "The Tories need to demonstrate that racism will not be tolerated. Mrs Winterton has been given more than enough chances."