As racist as Great Britain is to Black people, I always wonder if the white UK establishment is actually more racist towards Indians and Pakistanis. It’s a tortured history between the British Empire and South East Asians, and… yeah. I just wonder which demographic the British establishment would be more gleeful about marginalizing and demeaning. We’re going to see that in action with the British establishment’s reaction to Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris, a Black-Indian woman, a first-generation American with a Jamaican father and an Indian mother. A peer in the House of Lords, Baron Kilclooney, referred to VP-Elect Harris as “the Indian,” as if she doesn’t even deserve a name or title.
A Unionist member of the House of Lords has come under heavy fire on social media after referring to vice president-elect Kamala Harris as simply “the Indian”. The racist remark has reportedly already been brought to the attention of Joe Biden’s team, according to Pippa Crerar, the Daily Mirror’s political editor.
It is unlikely to bode well for Tory plans of a “special relationship” with the USA after Brexit, as recent reports have said Harris “hates” Boris Johnson due to his past racist remarks.
John Taylor, who was made a life peer as Baron Kilclooney in 2001, tweeted to ask what would happen to the role of vice president should Joe Biden be unable to continue in the top role. He wrote: “What happens if Biden moves on and the Indian becomes President. Who then becomes Vice President?”
Taylor’s comments have been widely condemned as “overt racism”, with Elena Whitham, an SNP candidate for Holyrood in 2021, writing: “I am aghast at this from someone charged with making decisions on our behalf in the unelected House of Lords. It is wholly repugnant.”
NOT “Ms. Kamala Harris.” NOT “Senator Harris.” Not “Vice-President-Elect Harris.” No. “The Indian.” I mean, Americans can’t be smug about this either – Republicans and conservative media spent the better part of the year mocking the Vice-President-Elect for her… name. They mispronounced her name on purpose, because it was “foreign,” you get it? But for a British peer to only call her “the Indian” is really f–king awful. He left that tweet up for a while, then deleted it and made it worse:
Whilst Biden is proud to be Irish and Harris is rightly proud of her Indian background I certainly withdraw my reference to her as an Indian as it seems to have upset some people. I did not know her name and identified her with the term Indian. Most people understood.Racist NO.
— Lord John Kilclooney (@KilclooneyJohn) November 9, 2020
I don’t think that America is the center of the world or anything, but I would expect a British peer, someone sitting in the House of Lords, someone with social and political power, to actually KNOW Kamala Harris’s name. In what world is it a legitimate excuse to say “I just referred to the Vice President-Elect by her ethnicity because I couldn’t be bothered to learn a Black-Indian woman’s name”? Yikes on all of this.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Getty.
Awful man who typifies that middle Englander Brexit voter. Please don’t judge us all by him – the Lords need to be abolished and replaced with people who represented the country and who are elected by the country.
You didn’t judge us all here because of Trump, so rest assured we won’t judge you all because of that White man.
(See what I did there- Yes, I am most definitely that petty! 😆 )
He’s Northern Irish, not English, but he’s still a hateful old racist misogynist from the unionist party who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near twitter for a start let alone the House of Lords. Northern Irish racism is just as endemic and awful here even though our relationship to colonialism is different. I’m disgusted as a northern Irish person and he needs to get kicked out. These NI brexit politicians are all terrible and just want to stir up division and suck up to the Tories, which is pointless as the Tories hate Northern Ireland.
He is racist and is also sectarian. I’d say it is eating him up that Kamala Harris is a successful African American and Indian woman, and that Joe Biden is proud of his Irish Catholic roots.
Northern Irish unionists are actually the worst people. They hate everyone but themselves and English people (and even then…).
Yeah we don’t judge you all for this lol, we’ve spent 4 years under Trump.
That said, the tweet was bad and the non-apology was even worse.
Hear hear!
You are so right, Digital Unicorn. Never fear, people can easily make the distinction between normal English people and the Royal and aristocratic twats. The Labor Party here in Australia took a stand many years ago, and did away with the Sir and Dame titles. Then a conservative PM (Abbott, I think) decided to regale Liz’s husband with yet another title. We don’t need that rubbish here. What I do need are my wonderful, caring and uproariously funny English friends. And all my other fabulous friends. Next time we have a referendum, I’m again voting for a republic. That doesn’t help British opponents of the RF, though. Hopefully, all these pompous arses and the entire house of Windsor will implode when Cain and Unable take hold of the reins. (That was a deliberate error, since they are horses’ arses.) The person on here who coined the glorious names for the Cambridge’s, I salute and applaud you.
As others have said he’s a Unionist NI politician whose views would be bizarre to most English people but otherwise hear hear. The article doesn’t state the outrage that greeted his tweet from parliamentarians and the general populace.
Speaking as a dual Irish/ British citizen from London who campaigned for Hilary four years ago (in Atlanta and Philadelphia, yay) and who feels such joy even after many sleepless nights being glued to the election coverage , can we stop with the sweeping generalisation of Britain and the British.
Thanks Dig, I was annoyed but then I saw your post. The news headlines lead with the shocking to get our attention.
Hope he loses his job. Racism will always be here. Just weed out the losers when they show their ass.
Brit CBers, Please chime in with loud chimes. Can the leadership of the House of Lords “de-seat” this loser racist or Is it impossible to “de-seat” this loser because he is Life Peer?
This isn’t my strong suit but google tells me he can be suspended from the House of Lords for a period of time. After that he’s free to come back. I don’t know if anyone has been permanently banned from sitting in the House of Lords
They didnt unseat him for saying the exact same thing about Leo Varadker so God knows.
I think there is a code of ethics and you can file a complaint, but there are loads of terrible people in the House of Lords and he did the exact same thing to the Irish Prime Minister, so not sure.
However, his comments yesterday saw a massive backlash. It was trending on Twitter all day yesterday, along with #AbolishtheHouseofLords.
Multiple politicians and even the head of the House of Lords spoke out. The fact he back tracked so much shows he was not expecting such a backlash and diplomatically, it makes the UK look so bad, so we’ll see.
He maybe cannot comprehend having more than one branch on one’s family tree…
hahaha 😉 yes the aristocracy are all about inbreeding. Got the keep the money and land in the family.
I think you must be right. I mean sure… he didn’t know her name. Ok, could’ve happened to anyone I suppose. But how inbred must he be not to realize if he can tweet then he can certainly google…
Oh Nina, that was truly magnificent. Thanks for the laugh. 👏🏼👏🏼 Also, if he really calls that statement of apology an apology then he needs to go back to charm school.
Nina you are comedy gold! Yes these twats are so insular and antiquated in their outlook. They will never change as long as there is a class system in Britain. They absolutely do need to be held to account if they are speaking in the House of Lords.
Really. “The Indian.” 🙄
British people are always talking about how American government is cuckoo, but we don’t have a freaking HOUSE OF LORDS.
Somebody on my Facebook posted that the American system is bonkers. My reply was “at least they get to elect their head of state”.
Her name is only all over the internet. A simple search would have shown thousands of results. He just makes himself look old, racist and stupid. A simple search would also show what happens if a vice president becomes president and he is old enough to remember when Nixon resigned and the procedures that followed if he is that interested in American politics.
Right! Knowing her name is unavoidable. But even if I give every benefit of the doubt, because we all have brain farts – then refer to her as the Vice President Elect, or the incoming Vice President. It’s not that hard.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Of course he knows her name, but even if he truly didn’t, he would refer to anyone else as the vice president. Also, he clearly has access to the Internet to fart this nonsense on Twitter, so he could’ve very easily looked up her name before posting that.
He’s a racist, and he knows it. And now we all do too.
Exactly. Notice how he tries to shift the blame off of himself by making it about whether or not Kamala Harris and others are proud of what they are. Racists, misogynists, homophobes, and TERFs all like to do this. “If you’re truly okay with yourself/this group of people, what we say about them shouldn’t matter enough to get any kind of response.”
Oh, he knew her name. He was just doing a racism. He has a thing against Indians apparently and thought he was insulting her by calling her The Indian. The lie about not knowing her name is just to defend himself against accusations of racism.
He’s just being a jerk. He probably knows it. He did it on purpose, he probably thought he could diminish her by being rude. It backfired. Idiot.
And folks wonder why H&M left the UK? Jaysus!
And H&M left under Trump.
If Trump was still in power, the UK Press would be all over it and writing numerous stories about how Meghan has angered Trump and is causing diplomatic fall outs. They would have probably blamed a no-deal Brexit on her.
I remember when a Daily Mail reporter actually was able to attend the White House Press briefing and asked Trump about Harry and Meghan.
Harry is known to be friends with Obama and friendly with Biden, so it’ll be really interesting to see how the Press report on them now.
Can you imagine if Harry and Meghan attend the inauguration? I will scream!!!
The Express actually did have an article last week that Meghan & Harry had put a US trade deal at risk because of ‘campaigning against Trump’. This was after blaming remainders for Brexit not going to plan. They are beyond parody.
Apart from wanting Trump to win because they like his populism& because he promised a quick US trade deal so could afford no deal with EU, the right wing press were looking forward to Trump trolling Meghan from the White House podium more. They & Boris Johnson’s government are so shook about the Biden win.
Lizziethe2 who is suggesting Biden policy decisions will be based on any friendship?
In case your comment was in response to mine, my point was that Boris Johnson& the right wing press were really hoping for a Trump win so they could proceed with a No deal Brexit & because they’ve been leaning into nasty populism. A Biden win complicates because he said a US trade deal won’t happen if the UK compromises the good Friday agreement re Ireland which a no deal Brexit risks.
This was jaw dropping, and he refuses to apologize. If he actually didn’t know her name he certainly knows her title which is Vice President elect or even Senator. He needs to go.
Definitely. I actually saw that tweet when it was up and reported it. What a vile creature
He knew what he was doing. Typical racist.
It’s about time the house of “lords” is abolished.
I agree. He absolutely knew her name and called her “the Indian” on purpose to demean her. typical racist behavior I see often. Its also used against women too by not naming them but calling them “the woman”.
And how do you hold such an official position as his and not know the name of the new elected VP of the USA. That is just beyond any excuse!
No excuses for him not to know her name, it’s practically there on the right upper side on twitter when the AP and other major networks called Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ win plus the US elections is currently a hot topic everywhere from the BBC, ITV, Sky, etc.
Of course he knew.
He did the same thing to Leo Varadkar a few years ago.
His “apology” is BS.
Fuck this guy.
Exactly. He’s full of sh*t. The establishment is upset about Biden’s win and how he won’t cozy up to their trade deal at expense of Good Friday agreement. This was straight out racist and the milquetoast response from the UK gov to this shows it’s going to be a chilly relationship. Also, the Telegraph or Times ran some insultingly stupid article on Kamala Harris makeup. First women VP, woman of color, long fought campaign against incumbent who still won’t concede, and they write about her makeup. Then this racist BS. They are trying to use the Meghan Markle insult playbook in the 2nd most powerful person in the world. Let’s see how that goes for them.
My rule: If you had time to tweet it, you had time to Google her name.
He just literally didn’t think it was worth bothering about.
He seems like the quintessential ridiculous British Tory who was born into wealth and status and looks like and over boiled potato , or a penis with teeth (looking at you too prince William)
Like a Chinese knock off Mr. Potato Head.
If he doesn’t know her name Madam Vice President is a great alternative.
Several people on Twitter pointed out he has previous history of referring to Leo Varadkar by the same terminology. Unfortunately he will learn nothing and he will do this again.
Most people did understand that you are racist. Yes.
If he knew Biden’s name then he should have known Harris’. Otherwise, google is free
He is disgusting and I hope someone tells him he looks like a cheap Mr Potato Head.
He can’t feign ignorance at not knowing who she is. Kamala Harris has been running for the presidency for the better part of this awful year and EVERY SINGLE GOVERNMENT in the WORLD has been paying attention to the US election. He PAID ATTENTION and still referred to her as “the Indian” because that’s all she is to him – the little brown foreigner.
As to whom becomes VP if Kamala becomes Commander in chief? Is it that hard to Google how presidential democracies work?
The first time I was called an ethnic slur was while visiting London from Pakistan as a kid. Someone behind me on a crowded subway platform kept whispering it over and over again. So, yeah, this isn’t shocking to me.
I can’t even begin to understand how rotten you need to be in order to whisper slurs in the ear of a child.
My god, I second this!!!
I’m so sorry you had to go through that Sarah, how horrible!!
This is when a knee to the groin would totally be acceptable, assuming it was a man. A quick poke in the eye if the offender is a woman. A child could absolutely get away with such responses imo.
Some of the most overt and open acts of racism came during a 5 day visit to England when I was 20. I am Asian, was travelling alone from Canada. In 4 days, three occasions I was harassed.
I had been a diehard Anglophile up til then, fulfilling a dream to visit England. I left, in tears as soon as I could.
It has never gotten better there, now it’s worse.
And when it’s practiced by and practically encouraged by their “leadership”, with little to no consequences, no wonder…
When Leo Varadker was taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) he referred to him as ‘The Indian’, and also referred to him as a ‘typical Indian’ in reference to some row over Brexit. This was 2 years ago.
Someone on twitter posted a letter that he sent the deputy head of Belfasts Queens University in 1968, the guy was Irish Ctholic and his name was Gerard O’Muilleoir, he responded and told that he had an unpronounceable name but he could conclude that he was Irish, not British and therefore not entitled to a grant.
He hates minorities, the Irish, Irish Catholics. Leo Varadker was a gay Irish Catholic Indian so I cant even imagine how much he hated him.
This man is actually despicable, and was a big part of govt in NI responsible for suppressing the Catholic minority for so long that it led to the Civil rights struggles which led on to the 30 year long troubles.
He is a monster.
He knew what he was doing. He’s referred to another politician in this way before and he referred to her position on Israel in the next tweet using her surname so he knew who she was. Reminds me of Danny Boyle of the racist royal baby tweet claiming not to know who Meghan was even though he had suggested she call her baby Wallis in earlier tweets.
His ‘clarification’ then included an interesting ‘I can’t be racist I have an Indian tenant’ defence.
Racism usually doesn’t impact people at the highest levels in UK -see Boris Johnson but Kamala actually being in a powerful position & UK needing a US trade deal may mean people will be careful coming for her.
I must correct this. It was Danny Baker, a radio DJ and TV presenter, not Danny Boyle, the highly regarded film director, who posted that offensive M&H tweet.
Otherwise, yes, Kilclooney is an unreconstructed, bigoted, racist piece of blubbery slime. He always has been.
Yes my bad Danny BAKER not Boyle
Wasn’t this Danny Baker rather than Danny Boyle? Before we accuse the later unjustly for the horrible tweet of the former
and this man gets to keep his day job and suffer no consequences following his vile comments. that’s it? life goes back to normal for him? no wonder he will never learn and others looking on will think this is perfectly fine. In the US, a wrong tweet, a misstep in public comments can get you fired in an instant.
surprise surprise – rich, titled, supremely priviledged old white man is a racist d*ck… tell me how people like this are enshrined as our “social betters”????????
Expect more of this from the British and the US Republicans in the future.
Not sure about the Republicans, but it’ll be very interesting to see what happens in the UK.
The right-wing Brexiteers and Press got so out of hand while in the comfort of Trump in power that this is a real shock for them. They know that Biden will always prioritise the stability of the EU and peace in Ireland over the UK and no one has gotten over Boris Johnson’s casual racist comments about Obama.
With regards to Kamala, overall the British public seem to really like her (there’s no denying her intelligence of self-earned achievements). The Telegraph published a story about her ‘beauty regime’ and it got massive backlash, so it’ll be interesting to see exactly how much the Press can get away with, when also considering that she’s also the vice president of the USA.
I’m just gonna sit back and watch.
Not to diminish any of her accomplishments but I would be interested in Kamala’s beauty regime. She is really attractive in a natural, non-ostentatious way.
@Jes – absolutely! she is gorgeous – there is no denying!
“The right-wing Brexiteers and Press got so out of hand while in the comfort of Trump in power that this is a real shock for them.”
Yup. The game changed practically overnight. No doubt many never truly entertained the idea of Trump losing. Oops!
Trump, his minions, the MAGAts, and the Republicans will still be around, but the primary public faces of the US will no longer spout divisiveness, racism, and just plain stupidity.
Would love to see Meghan and Harry invited to some event in CA with the now Vice President elect Kamala Harris before she leaves her home state for DC – socially distancing, of course, where people are wearing, you know, masks; especially with the crap the RF just pulled about the wreath. William and Lord Whosit’s heads would explode.
Oh man, yes I love her for her brains, but I also want to know her beauty regime! Plus we’ll get some serious pantsuit p*rn and I am here for it
But the U.S. Republithugs will focus more on her being black. Kamala is quintessentially American and is so smart and beautiful! I love her low key way of dressing, always appropriate but It doesn’t outshine her lovely self. It makes me wonder about her inaugural gown, I’m guessing black or neutral with a jacket and a bit of glitter.
How happy would you be with a face like that? He has to behave like melting truck nuts. House of Lords. Pfft. What a joke.
He has one of those malleable doughy faces that could be just fine if a good character shined out through his eyes. As it is, his face is the stuff of nightmares. He looks like such a classic villain.
He definitely got the face he deserves. Pr*ck.
He looks like Jabba the Hut
bwahahaha…. melting truck nuts. Perfect.
This idiot looks like the Jack the Ripper from FROM HELL (the graphic novel) – the aristocrat doctor who kills on behalf of Victoria – very fitting
ETA: William Gull
Yup, he sure does. Great call!
Under the shadow of Brexit and Trump, these crusty old British racists became VERY comfortable saying things OUT LOUD.
The only reason that the Kamala comment got so much attention and heat is because she is a women IN POWER.
There are so many people in the media, public eye and in politics who say abhorrent things of about many people of colour; Meghan Markle, Mayor Khan, Dianne Abbot, Dawn Butler, Zarah Sultana, Lewis Hamilton, Stormzy, Black footballers (the only one that gets really defended is Marcus Rashford, and that’s cos he is campaigning to feed hungry children).
But Biden coming into power and Kamala having such a senior position has really got people shook!
Even a lot of well meaning liberal people would have previously ignored or dismissed this as a stupid comment and roll their eyes. But now you cannot ignore slurs like this on the most powerful woman of a super-power, after you have alienated your entire continent, no longer have an Empire and are desperate for a trade deal and political allies.
Whereas before Brits could always use Trump as a deflection, whenever the UK was accused of racism to feel better about themselves, now they can’t and it has become internationally embarrassing.
John Taylor has never had any problem being a racist, sectarian bigot for all to see, for literal DECADES. They still made him a Lord.
Can one of the brits on cb explain the House of Lords to me? Like, I know it’s an unelected body – But is it at least “democratically” appointed, and does a normal voter have power over the appointing body, for example? Thank you in advance!
Normal people have no choice. It’s a way for politicians to reward their cronies or keep people who’ve lost elections still in government thereby circumventing the will of the people.
There are also excellent people in there, experts who can really help to scrutinise legislation. Tani Grey-Thomson and Robert Winston to name two.
He doesn’t care what her name is. Knowing her race is enough. Which is literal racism.
This is awful. Just a note, though, he’s not British — he’s from Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK but not part of Great Britain. I assume you were referring to the British peer establishment, of which he is a part, but just clarifying this for any readers!
John Taylor is actually British. NI is part of the UK, and under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement we are entitled to call ourselves Irish, British, or both (I think, but I dont know anyone who is both).
John Taylor has been extremely sectarian his whole life against Irish Catholics, and would consider himself 1000% God Save The Queen Pass me the Union Jack British.
I’m Irish Catholic from NI and my community have had to put up with some serious shit from this old bigot for years so we are not claiming him now.
Agree! Old bigot is actually being kind about this man.
He’s part of the Unionist Party so more than likely identifies as British. Great Britain is an island but a citizen of the United Kingdom is classified as British. However, Northern Ireland is complicated as Irish and British governments worked together to allow Northern Irish to be legal citizens of Ireland or the United Kingdom or both countries. This is despite Northern Ireland remaining part of the UK.
National identity is complicated in the four constituent countries of the UK, particularly in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Many would reject the British label and prefer to be called Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish. Northern Irish people can also not be citizens of the UK and Irish citizens only. But if someone is that deeply involved with the Unionist Party which is pro-UK and anti-Irish government, it is quite likely they only identify as British.
Just adding further context to a complex situation.
NI is weird though as one side of the community identify as Irish (hi!), another are British (and probably hate when they go abroad and people just assume they’re Irish cause of the accent). Very few identify as Northern Irish, although it’s becoming an emerging identity among the NI soft unionist/ middle community
Thank you for the well written explanation. I actually understood it, but still feel like my brain just broke!
Sooo he would have referred to Joe Biden as “the Irish”? His defense tweet makes no sense.
Sounds like back in the day when the only woman working in an office was called ‘the girl’.
I believe some beautiful Indian woman wouldn’t give him the time of day and he is still bitter.
BTW, my grandson won’t let me say that I have an Indian friend. He is 7, ‘your not supposed to say that grandma, she is Native American’. I’m trying to tell him that there is a country named India and it is okay but he is not having it.
Eh, I’m not surprised that it might take a while to get the idea that there is actually a place called India if you’re seven. I can’t imagine understanding that at seven. When do you start to learn geography, anyway? I always sucked at it!
Checked out his Wikipedia and while this is outrageous, it is not surprising. Google what the Ulster Unionists have said about Irish Catholics over the years. And as noted by many of you he said the same thing about Leo Varadkar, the Irish-born Prime Minister, and called an English-born cricketer of Pakistani heritage “non-English.” He is a racist through and through. Even Piers Morgan has his number.
The racism was so overt even Brits who find race conversations uncomfortable would call this out. However Piers has no room to talk. He told a black professor to ‘go back home’ for daring to question Churchill’s history of racism. I can’t stand Omorosa but when Trump called her a dog Piers said that was an insult to dogs & he’s shown lots of misogynoir towards Meghan Markle and Beyoncé amongst others.
His explanation was deliberately meant to double down on the original offence. Pure and simple.
As a matter of principle, I refuse to engage with the details of people’s explanations of how and why they are not racist. That gives them undeserved attention. And I’m also not interested in giving them opportunities to polish their awfulness into something less detectable.
This. Omfg this.
Racist f*^K!!!!!!
Utter garbage.
1) I have zero doubt he was unaware of her name. The whole world knows her name.
2) *If* he didn’t remember her name, he could have used her title.
Utter garbage from an utter garbage (sub) human.
Didn’t know enough about her to know her name, but he was 100% sure about her ethnicity.
Again, THIS. And he sure as heck knew her title., because he knew she’d be president. Racism with a gaslight cherry on top.
Shades of Tucker Carlson here. Both of them are a disgrace as human beings. But they still can’t hold a candle to an actual president who comes up with stuff like “Kung Flu” and reduces the name of Pocahontas to an insult. And mocks the disabled and the prisoners of war. I can’t believe this sort of behavior is still going on this far along my lifetime. I was so optimistic once that we’d be so much more advanced in the 2000’s.
RR’s screaming to strip him of his title?
Omgggg do you SEE that troll???? Jesus he looks miserable.
Ugh! He looks like a big white sun-dried turd!
“I always wonder if the white UK establishment is actually more racist towards Indians and Pakistanis.”
Undoubtedly. Perhaps not at all levels, but in terms of overt discrimination, absolutely – few would casually use the n word, but the phrase “fucking P*ki” is one I hear far too often, always spat with such vitriol. Presumably it’s at least partially because, outside of London at least, there are far more south asian people than black people, and they’re therefore seen as more of a “threat” to “Britishness”. It’s abhorrent.
Google says that Baron Kilclooney represents Ulster in Northern Ireland. I doubt that he would enjoy being referred to as “the Mick” by the English aristocrats who you just know look down on him a little.
I can’t remember what this mans name is. I’m just gonna refer to him as “that Prod” or “that Orangeman” or “that colonizing, Catholic oppressing fuck” from here on out.
Those racist blockading Repuglicans think they don’t have a worthy foe in Kamala Harris they’ve got another thought coming! They know she’s not gonna back down and they better not risk pulling all their misogynist racist Bull Crap because we’re coming for them in ’22 and ’24. I really think that’s the reason why Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris — because Kamala is tough and whip smart. Tougher and more whip smart than any of those Repuglican obstructionist jerks in the Senate — smarter than the Dems too, for that matter.
When Kamala dropped out of the race I KNEW they told her they were gonna make it up to her. Hell, it was probably part of their strategy all along. I knew something was brewing and I think a lot of you did too. And what was brewing got hit outta the park!!