Absolutely don’t consider Britain a racist nation: Rishi Sunak

Britain’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke towards racism and highlighted his personal heritage as carrying some weight on the topic.

London,UPDATED: Dec 20, 2022 20:10 IST

Rishi Sunak addressed questions posed by reporters throughout a go to to the Latvian capital of Riga on Monday when he spoke out towards racism (File Photo)

By Press Trust of India: Britain’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has defended the UK’s file on race amid a brewing row over controversial remarks by a columnist attacking Prince Harry’s spouse Meghan Markle, who’s of African-American heritage.

Sunak was addressing questions posed by reporters throughout a go to to the Latvian capital of Riga on Monday when he spoke out towards racism and highlighted his personal heritage as carrying some weight on the topic.

“I absolutely don’t believe that Britain is a racist country. And I’d hope that as our nation’s first British Asian Prime Minister when I say that it carries some weight,” he informed reporters.

“You know, I’m really proud of our country, its culture, its resilience, its beauty. And actually, it’s an enormous privilege to champion Britain and indeed, its institutions like the monarchy when I’m out and about on the world stage as I am here today,” mentioned the UK-born politician, who has his household roots in Punjab.

Sunak was reacting to an ongoing row over former tv presenter and columnist Jeremy Clarkson writing in ‘The Sun’ about loathing Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, “on a cellular level”, within the wake of the controversial ‘Harry and Meghan’ documentary being aired on Netflix lately.

Clarkson’s column acquired over 6,000 complaints to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), leading to an apology from the author and the newspaper eradicating the column from its web site.

“For everyone in public life, language matters,” said Sunak, when asked about the furore.

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Meanwhile, more than 60 cross-party British MPs have written to the editor of ‘The Sun’, Victoria Newton, to demand action be taken against Clarkson.In a letter, they said Meghan Markle had received credible threats to her life and that columns such as Clarkson’s contributed to an “unacceptable climate of hatred and violence”.

The letter, coordinated by the Conservative Party Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee in the House of Commons, Caroline Nokes, was signed by fellow Tory MPs as well as Opposition MPs from Labour, Lib Dem, Green and SNP.

“We can’t permit one of these behaviour to go unchecked any longer. We welcome the Sun’s retraction of the article and we now demand motion is taken towards Mr Clarkson and an unreserved apology to Ms Markle instantly,” they write.

Published On:

Dec 20, 2022