Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has accused Labour MP Dawn Butler of race-baiting and described her re-tweeting of a post describing Kemi Badenoch as a white supremacist as “insanity”.
He said on GB News: “She's got form on this. Yes, on a personal level, I've always got on with her, but her race-baiting is completely crazy. You can imagine that if Kemi had lost, she'd have said exactly the same thing.
“She'd have said, ‘oh, of course Kemi lost because the Tories are racist, and Britain is racist’. Now that she's won, she's saying it was racist. This is insanity.
“I genuinely think that, given what she said, she should have the whip removed.
“There should be some discipline and some disciplinary measure against this…she's accusing Kemi, unbelievably, of being a kind of front for white supremacy. I mean, that's literally what she's accused her of.
“You can see exactly how they think, because if Rob, let's say, had won, they would have said exactly the same thing. They'd have said, this is white supremacy or whatever.
“Everything that happens, they try and put through the same channel, regardless of the circumstances.
“In the old days, I'd say 20, 25 years ago, you did deal with old fashioned racists, out and out racists. I think the problem now is people like Dawn Butler, because they're going to call you a coconut, they're going to call you all sorts of names.
“Absurdly, they're accusing Kemi of being a white supremacist or a face for white supremacy, and they use incredibly offensive language, which if anyone else used, they would be they would be reprimanded.
“The real threat, actually the real people who use race relentlessly and ruthlessly, are the extreme left.”
Asked an attack line on race could damage Badenoch, Kwarteng said: “I think the vast majority of people will take her on her merits, and if she does a good job, I think she's got a very good chance of getting elected.”
