8 months ago
34
Illegal immigration minister Michael Tomlinson repeatedly refused to explain Anderson’s comments in LBC interview
Good morning. Yesterday Rishi Sunak spent all day in interviews describing Lee Anderson’s claim about the Labour mayor of London (“I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of [Sadiq] Khan, and they’ve got control of London”) as wrong, while dodging questions about whether the comment was Islamophobic. The obvious follow-up was why was it wrong. Sunak managed to get through interviews yesterday without being up-ended by this challenge, but this morning on LBC Michael Tomlinson, the illegal immigration minister, was cut off after repeatedly refusing to answer this question.
Tomlinson was being interviewed by Nick Ferrari who started by asking why Anderson had to have the whip suspended. Because what he said was wrong, Tomlinson replied. Ferrari repeatedly asked why Anderson’s comment was wrong, and Tomlinson just kept replying: “What he said was wrong.”
I have to curtail the interview. I’m grateful for your time but enough already. Michael Tomlinson is a minister of state for illegal migration unable to answer a question.
Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, has suggested that the No 10 response to Anderson’s comments amounts to “hysteria”. She posted this on X last night.
We need to urgently focus now on the big problem: how to tackle Islamist extremism in the UK.
The hysteria in response to those calling out the crisis is one of the reasons why we’re not making progress.
Language does matter but it’s time for resolute government action:
Grassroots Conservative supporters have called Rishi Sunak a “snake” over Lee Anderson’s suspension, the Guardian has reported. Here is our story by Eleni Courea, Ben Quinn and Pippa Crerar.
Continue reading...