Reuters, London :
British Prime Minister Theresa May suspended one of her Conservative Party lawmakers on Monday after she used racist language at a think tank event on the implications of Brexit on the financial services sector.
Anne Marie Morris, who campaigned to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum, was describing her view of what could be done to ensure a good exit agreement in the two years allowed for talks.
“And then we get to the real nigger in the wood pile which is, in two years, what will happen if there is no deal,” she told a gathering of politicans, lawyers and senior city figures.
She said later she apologised unreservedly for any offence caused.
“The comment was entirely unintentional.”
May said she had been shocked to hear about the comment, which she described as “completely unacceptable”.
“I immediately asked the Chief Whip to suspend the party whip,” May said in a statement. “Language like this has absolutely no place in politics or in today’s society.”
Suspending the party whip means Morris is excluded from the party and will sit as an independent, potentially reducing May’s ability to pass legislation. Her government already relies on a smaller party after losing its majority at a June election.
Morris can still choose to vote in line with the government, and is likely to continue to do so. May did not say how long the suspension would last or if expulsion was possible.
Several lawmakers, both from the main opposition parties and from within the Conservatives, had called for Morris to be suspended for her use of the phrase, believed to be rooted in slavery in the United States.
It came to be used to describe something unexpected and wrong but is now generally viewed with disdain as racist.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Theresa May will try to wrest back control of Britain’s political agenda on Tuesday by unveiling proposals to protect workers in the “gig economy” in a direct challenge to opposition parties.
May wants to signal that it is business as usual for her government after an ill-judged election gamble damaged her authority and threw away her governing Conservatives’ majority in parliament, emboldening the main opposition Labour Party.
She hopes that the launch of the review into employment practices which she ordered shortly after becoming prime minister almost a year ago will re-set her agenda and show that her pledge to help those Britons who are “just about managing” is more than just a slogan.
