Snapshot of _Rishi Sunak says Reform activist's racial slur 'too important not to call out'_ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://youtu.be/7FVha4qfxNo?si=1EYfo6n0zlMJ-rTy) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://youtu.be/7FVha4qfxNo?si=1EYfo6n0zlMJ-rTy)
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I've been thinking about this moment and it's the first time I think he's come across as a normal person during the campaign. He's let everyone in on a deeply personal issue that clearly has an actual impact on him and his family.
It shows despite everything he, like everyone else, has struggles to overcome and it's a fascinating contrast with the tone deafness of things like the whole "sky tv" debacle.
The problem of course is that he wants the empathy that he and his party have refused to give others for years.
He will attack and put down and try to eliminate the people who are trying to stop this shit from happening then take advantage of their kindness because he knows our morals are better than his.
I remember that major party donor who outright said Diane Abbott made him want to hate all black women and she should be shot. I'm not going to downplay the racism of the Reform candidate here, but imo calling for an MP to be shot (especially considering very recent history) is worse than a racial slur. And yet they bent over backwards to explain how he was sorry (for being caught) so they were happy to continue letting him give them money. I think it tells you something about the culture in the Conservative party.
Now of course the issue affects them directly, so blatant racism is suddenly too important to not address, yadda yadda. So tiring.
Both are wrong, but just because he didn’t handle the racism of his donor the right way it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the racism toward him seriously.
Whatabouting when it comes to something like this just feels wrong. Racism is racism, if we don’t call it out from wherever it comes from and wherever it is targeted what leg do we have to stand on as a society?
People were right to call out the Hester shit as unacceptable, but there isn’t a balance somewhere that is redressed by a Neanderthal being racist to a Tory. It’s all just as fucked.
We should take this seriously, we’re just pointing out he’s let his party foster these sentiments and he’s personally not taken it seriously when it wasn’t directed at him
So he wants us to handle the racism towards him the right way. All the while he handles racism towards others by his party, ministers and donors the wrong way.
We can both acknowledge the racism against him is awful whilst also acknowledging that he himself endorses or is apathetic about racism towards others that are not himself.
This is an extremely unfortunate quality of the prime minister of the uk, to only care about issues when he himself is personally affected but doesn't care when it's happening to others in the country. Acknowledging that doesn't take away from the fact that racism is bad in every circumstance.
You're right. He compromised to accommodate pretty unpleasant donors. It's awful political antennae because every Tory donor sodding off to Reform would have been replaced by donors wanting a less kipper Tory party
And when David Tennant was openly wishing for a world that no longer had Kemi Badenoch in it plenty of people were rushing to his defence. It works all ways.
But that has nothing to do with gender, ethnicity, or being alive.
He was saying that Badenoch and her opinions on trans people shouldn't be in that position of power anymore.
The Tennant quote:
> However, until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist any more – I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up – whilst we do live in this world, I am honoured to receive this.
He's very clearly not saying what you're suggesting about wanting Badenoch to be dead or anything of that nature. The aside is a clear clarification that he's talking about her and her ilk's position in the relevant political debate, which is just equivalent to saying the same thing (their rhetoric is unacceptable and they should shut up) about the vile people using slurs against Sunak.
bleugh. When Tennant did it, Starmer came out immediately and criticised him for what he said. He didn't wait to be the target himself. It clearly doesn't work the same way.
He wished for a world without her because of her views, not because of her race or gender.
If the Reformers had said "I wish Sunak would just shut up and disappear with his hatred", nobody would have an issue. The issue is the anger was based on his race.
For once he is not following a script and repeating pre-agreed tag lines. He might have had a more successful campaign if he had done this sort of thing from the start.
Yeah, I want the Tories all gone, but you can go after them on their record, leave their race or anything like that out of it.
Fucking reform, a bunch of troglodytes out there actually making us side with Sunak on something.
Yeah, racism sucks. I felt every word that Reform scumbag said.
The thing is, you can throw red meat to the lions to keep them content, but when you run out, the lions will eat you instead.
I find it hard to sympathise, even as a person of colour, because he wanted to placate these people for his political gain, but these people don't even acknowledge his political existence.
The question is, do the Badenoch's, Patel's, and Braverman's learn this lesson.
He is an actor, who is also a scumbag bigot, who is also a Reform volunteer. That's it.
You want to put those things in an order of "channel 4 paid someone to smear Farage" then let me tell you this ....
COME TO MY STORE NOW, SNAKE OIL IS DOWN FROM £39.99 TO £29.99!! ORDER NOW FOR A FREE TIN FOIL HAT!
Which is fine
The problem is he doesn’t show any of this with all of the other issues that effect the vast majority of the population like the cost of living, paying bills, wage stagnation
Hate this guy and want him out as soon as possible, but he's right that we cannot let our country devolve into "f****** p**"* politics.
These people want to represent us but thankfully they only represent the worst of us. Sunak for all his faults is a level above these flooded basement dwellers...
It reminds me of the bible passage of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. What did the man expect with his anti foreign, anti immigrant rhetoric? That people would just be xenophobic but not racist?
He is the very one who has greatly contributed to its devolution though. I actually specifically remember both him and braverman throwing out red meat about Pakistani men in particular so it's ironic that he's drawing this red line when it's turned on himself.
Sunak is not a level above the basement dwellers. He is their zookeeper and has been nurturing and feeding them for years.
He has propagated a hateful and bigoted rhetoric towards immigrants, he has repeatedly pandered to racists and tried to remove the human rights protections of all of us but now because the racists he's sought to appease shockingly don't like his race it's a step to far and we need civility?
civility from the man who mocks dead transgender children
he gets what he deserves
STOP THE BOATS! STOP THE BOATS! GET RID OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT! *FOREIGN* COURTS!
Wait, I've empowered racism and allowed it to infiltrate into politics? Oh dear...
Saying 'he gets what he deserves' it is clearly u/[Jumpy-Tennis881](https://www.reddit.com/user/Jumpy-Tennis881/) saying racism is acceptable against Rishi.
By saying someone deserves something you're saying it is acceptable. I think Sunak deserves to be called all sorts of unpleasant things, but those would be related to his views and actions and not his ethnicity.
I was thinking this. If Reform were following the Tory rule book then the offender could apologise for being rude, Farage could accept it without asking Sunak, and job done.
I remember hearing the same language on the evening of the Brexit vote as a reason to leave the EU. Sadly Gove, Johnson, May, Truss, fed that beast and now Sunak is left holding the fruits of their labour. It’s especially hard to feel sympathy after Hester too (I also agree that this language is odious and sad it’s taken so long for someone in the Tories to address it)
This is the only worthwhile thing he's said on this campaign. Annoying that if this is how he feels, he still perpetuates the same divisiveness with his own party.
They've been blowing that dog whistle and courting this sort for years. The actions of the Tory Party by lurching to the right have empowered this lot, and now they're seeing the result of it.
Some of the comments on that youtube page are seriously deranged, actually most of them in fact
One of their own gets caught out red handed but all they do is denounce it with some made up crap about the guy being a 'hired actor' and other nonsense
That's Farage's talking point on this, they've found an acting profile for the guy (he's a union member but looks like it's for a tiny amount of extra work, totally plausible for a random reform guy to have).
For Farage's talking point to be true, they'd be claiming that Channel 4 or Sunak hired a crappy actor to play a racist character \*without using a fake name\*, to smear the party by saying things that they say all the time onine??? A guy calls the lgbt flag degenerate crap, and it's not even the guy they are saying was a plant.
wait wasn’t this dude an actor who put on his *”rough voice”*. So literally acting out a role and it just so happens Channel 4 caught him saying racial slurs i’ve not heard from anybody in about 20 years?
you can’t be serious…
wait, i’m on reddit, you’re serious.
Can you provide any evidence that this is not his real voice? Lots of people saying this but I’ve not seen any evidence so far. Also plenty of people still say that word and even if they didn’t, he’s an old man so would make sense for him to use an old fashioned word.
The evidence is claimed to be from [this clip](https://x.com/jamesks92/status/1806635327605400052?t=DkSbkoclKF9jGZrE-OXO_A&s=19) where he starts in his 'natural voice' and then goes into his 'rough voice' playing a character later.
this is his real voice:
https://x.com/ukJ0N/status/1806691264466681911
this is his *rough voice*:
https://x.com/ukJ0N/status/1806691268187345135 (edit: updated to show correct link)
this is the Channel 4 programme:
https://x.com/ukJ0N/status/1806691272369041751
First 2 are the same video but regardless, his voice doesn’t even sound that different to how it does in the c4 video. Don’t you think it’s more likely he’s putting on a bit more of a ‘proper’ sounding voice in the first video than the other way around? This is like comparing how I would talk in a job interview to how I would talk with my mates at the pub.
my apologies, i’ve just updated the second link.
Maybe i live in my own magic bubble but nobody talks like that in real life and it just so happens the man is an actor.
And it just so happens to be Channel 4, whose producers have a record for going after the Brexit party and Farage in general via lies, bribed and subterfuge.
I’m not even bloody going to vote for them but it’s just the lies and f***ing propaganda i’m pissed off with.
There are plenty of people who talk like that in real life, it’s not even that extreme of an accent. I understand being upset with lies and propaganda but that just isn’t what’s happening here.
My sentiments are shared with many here so I wont go into that. But what i do want to say is - where has this Sunak been this entire time? This is a man speaking like a normal human being. Speaking as an angry, real father. This is a part of him I can, and do, genuinely relate to. He's had an incredibly privileged life by most accounts, but at the end of the day he still has to deal with the same shit that so many brown folks in this country have had to for generations.
This is the first time i've ever seen him speak from the heart. And good on him for it.
It also helps to remember Sunak doesn't find racism toward black women troubling enough to take his hand out of a racist donor's pocket. He also couldn't find a word to say against that donor's racism until Badenoch spoke out and forced him to.
It's nice that good people can on the other side can find sympathy for Sunak, but also worth remembering his recent actions show he's only genuinely outraged by racism if it's directed at people like him.
Its because this time he's personally affected and therefore actually cares.
All the other times we see him speak, he doesn't actually care.
That's the difference.
I’m not a fan of conservatives or Rishi. But this has nothing to do with people politics and everything to do with someone’s morality. There is absolutely no place for Racism in politics or society as a whole and what was said was disgusting.
The term was abhorrent, but I don't care about sunak being upset. Him and his cronies have accused my disabled kids and wife of not contributing to society, would he care about the anger and hurt felt by disabled people and their loved ones? No, he won't give two shits, because he has no interest in showing any humanity towards my loved ones.
When someone calls someone of Indian origin a p*ki, they're not just insulting that person. They're insulting everyone of South Asian origin in the UK, and quite frankly everyone of South Asian origin in the entire world.
Which includes me. So, despite Rishi Sunak trying his utmost to make our worldwide reputation go down even more, this is still personal to see that probably one of the most powerful Indian-origin people in the world still faces this so nakedly.
Of course, I'm genuinely shocked that there hasn't been more racism towards Rishi. I don't know if it's because English people are better at dog whistle racism than Americans were with Obama. None of that expose was surprising, and I doubt it'll turn too many people who were going to vote for them for voting for them away.
There frankly hasn't been enough of a chance to see the racism towards Rishi. But yeah, in my admittedly small experience with the UK, it's more likely to be people who won't say much in public but will privately vote for someone "properly British" (like that radio caller a year ago and a couple more news stories.) It really wouldn't surprise me if a detailed analysis found that racism was partially responsible for the level of blowout the Tories are seemingly going to get, though of course there's a smorgasbord of factors to choose from
Our local reform candidate is a British born Sikh who was in the British army. Theres no way reform or their supporters will ever see him as properly English. Hell, I'm white Irish but born in London, my wife is from southern Spain, but born in London too. We've had neighbours, the type who openly say they vote for far right parties, that my wife is Spanish, and I'm English. I ask them why, is it because she has brown skin and speaks another language fluently, and they clam up. It's not enough for them to be racist, they want to control people's experiences of being part of an immigrant upbringing. It's a pathetic attempt to bully and dominate people's lives.
This is the first time this dude has seemed genuinely human and likeable. As someone who’s also been called a “fucking paki” before, I totally get where he’s coming from and empathize. This campaign probably needed more of this Rishi, being genuine. He’d still have lost but at least with grace.
But fuck these Reform candidates into the sun.
I feel so torn. Naturally, racism is disgusting, i feel for him and I love to hear a serious tone from a politician like this.
However, i can’t help but feel frustrated since he is fuelling kind of fuelling this rhetoric. And also advances classism on major scale.
I don’t think most of the UK population will feel this way though and this reaction is probably a big W for his campaign.
But when Frank Hester said Diane Abbott should be shot and that she makes him want to hate all black women, that was worth mild condemnation and not enough to stop him from taking Hester's money.
What was said is repellant. It is offensive.
Not a lot being said about the "our police will be paramilitaries" or the remarks about the police showing a pride flag and calling it "degenerate" or that gay people are paedophiles. It was more than one person in Clacton being grossly offensive. It's like the lowest, scummiest people are attracted to Reform. I can't imagine why...
This might be the first and only time I say this: I completely agree with Sunak here.
The language I saw on that undercover video of the Reform canvassers was unbelievable. Such a disgrace to the UK political system. Regardless of how much I dislike Sunak, no one deserves to be spoken about in that way. It is so unintelligent, if you disagree with him there's a long list of non-racist things you can say, it is never okay to resort to hate speech.
1. Completely right to call it out for what it is, it is rather concerning just how lax some people are with a horribly offensive term and the way that a lot of British Asians have kind of gotten used to just shutting up with it rather than calling it out.
2. Trying to discredit him being angry about this and showing a truer emotion because of other examples of racism that he didn't do that is honestly a little bigoted and I would argue part of the reason we have got into the state we are in right now.
> Trying to discredit him being angry about this and showing a truer emotion because of other examples of racism that he didn't do that is... part of the reason we have got into the state we are in right now.
The tories not addressing clear examples of bigotry until it came back to bite them *IS* how we got into the state we are in right now.
I honestly like Sunak more than I ever did Cameron, May & Johnson. My gut feeling is that he’s probably an alright bloke on a personal level. I don’t really get the particular animosity toward him on this sub - aside from the whole being a Tory MP thing of course. I’ll be glad to see the Tories kicked out, but for me it would have been somewhat more satisfying seeing any of those three mentioned above on the receiving end of an historic kicking than Sunak. They all deserved it significantly more than Sunak.
I think a big problem with Sunak is he has tried too hard to come across as something he isn't in an attempt to be relatable. Just being himself would likely have been more sincere and served him better.
I'll be intrigued to see if this reflects in how he (or the Tories in general) polls.
The UK has always had a bit of a thing for the underdog, so if Rishi can spin this to 'put upon but holding on strong' it might actually be a bit of a boon for him. It would be interesting to see him try and do a 'never surrender' and 'woe is me' storyline at the same time.
Also of interest is how this will reflect on Reform - my assumption is it would knock them down a few pegs (even with Nige trying to claim it's all a big fix), but then chunks of their audience seem to really like the idea of bumping off immigrants and murdering people who aren't white, so it could prove beneficial to him. Farage claiming he finds this abhorrent while utterly ignoring the several incidents that you can't play off as being an actor or whatever is entertaining to see.
Whatever happens, and whatever side of the ever more complex fence you sit on, nobody should have to come up against blatant racism in their life or while doing their job. Knock the man down for his colossal failures, not his ethnicity.
I agree with most of the comments here, condemning the remarks that were made towards his family. And for a second I don’t want to victim blame here, but there is something missing from the conversation here and that’s how the Tories have been perpetuating a racist discourse over the past few years.
I always felt casual racism was very slowly on its way out and it was getting more and more taboo - but in recent years, especially post Brexit and very much in the run up to this election casual racism has crept in and there is no denying that we have become more divided. The Tory part have been hugely responsible for letting us drift to the right, for a lot of people Brexit was just a way to express how they felt towards foreigners and we need to face that.
Sorry, but this is kind of behaviour towards his family is disgusting but it’s not shocking we have gone back here.
First 4 letters of Pakistan.
At some point in the past it was (I assume) a way to refer to people from Pakistan, much like how Afghan refers to people from Afghanistan. However, it's been used as a slur for anyone from South Asia for as long as I can remember.
All he had to do was do this from day one with Reform and also with Hester.
Simple things. It doesn't backtrack from his policies. Yes, I want to be a PM who brings immigration down. Yes, I want to be a PM that deters false asylum claims. But no, I do not want to actively hurt or endanger anyone regardless of their nationality or ethnicity.
For weeks and months, Sunak didn't do that until now. This is where the Tory poll bounce is and he didn't want to pick the overdue fight with Reform despite his party being the one to lose votes to them
Snapshot of _Rishi Sunak says Reform activist's racial slur 'too important not to call out'_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://youtu.be/7FVha4qfxNo?si=1EYfo6n0zlMJ-rTy) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://youtu.be/7FVha4qfxNo?si=1EYfo6n0zlMJ-rTy) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I've been thinking about this moment and it's the first time I think he's come across as a normal person during the campaign. He's let everyone in on a deeply personal issue that clearly has an actual impact on him and his family. It shows despite everything he, like everyone else, has struggles to overcome and it's a fascinating contrast with the tone deafness of things like the whole "sky tv" debacle.
The problem of course is that he wants the empathy that he and his party have refused to give others for years. He will attack and put down and try to eliminate the people who are trying to stop this shit from happening then take advantage of their kindness because he knows our morals are better than his.
I remember that major party donor who outright said Diane Abbott made him want to hate all black women and she should be shot. I'm not going to downplay the racism of the Reform candidate here, but imo calling for an MP to be shot (especially considering very recent history) is worse than a racial slur. And yet they bent over backwards to explain how he was sorry (for being caught) so they were happy to continue letting him give them money. I think it tells you something about the culture in the Conservative party. Now of course the issue affects them directly, so blatant racism is suddenly too important to not address, yadda yadda. So tiring.
Both are wrong, but just because he didn’t handle the racism of his donor the right way it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the racism toward him seriously. Whatabouting when it comes to something like this just feels wrong. Racism is racism, if we don’t call it out from wherever it comes from and wherever it is targeted what leg do we have to stand on as a society? People were right to call out the Hester shit as unacceptable, but there isn’t a balance somewhere that is redressed by a Neanderthal being racist to a Tory. It’s all just as fucked.
We should take this seriously, we’re just pointing out he’s let his party foster these sentiments and he’s personally not taken it seriously when it wasn’t directed at him
So he wants us to handle the racism towards him the right way. All the while he handles racism towards others by his party, ministers and donors the wrong way. We can both acknowledge the racism against him is awful whilst also acknowledging that he himself endorses or is apathetic about racism towards others that are not himself. This is an extremely unfortunate quality of the prime minister of the uk, to only care about issues when he himself is personally affected but doesn't care when it's happening to others in the country. Acknowledging that doesn't take away from the fact that racism is bad in every circumstance.
You're right. He compromised to accommodate pretty unpleasant donors. It's awful political antennae because every Tory donor sodding off to Reform would have been replaced by donors wanting a less kipper Tory party
And when David Tennant was openly wishing for a world that no longer had Kemi Badenoch in it plenty of people were rushing to his defence. It works all ways.
But that has nothing to do with gender, ethnicity, or being alive. He was saying that Badenoch and her opinions on trans people shouldn't be in that position of power anymore.
The Tennant quote: > However, until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist any more – I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up – whilst we do live in this world, I am honoured to receive this. He's very clearly not saying what you're suggesting about wanting Badenoch to be dead or anything of that nature. The aside is a clear clarification that he's talking about her and her ilk's position in the relevant political debate, which is just equivalent to saying the same thing (their rhetoric is unacceptable and they should shut up) about the vile people using slurs against Sunak.
Race is a protected class, hatefulness is not.
bleugh. When Tennant did it, Starmer came out immediately and criticised him for what he said. He didn't wait to be the target himself. It clearly doesn't work the same way.
He wished for a world without her because of her views, not because of her race or gender. If the Reformers had said "I wish Sunak would just shut up and disappear with his hatred", nobody would have an issue. The issue is the anger was based on his race.
He also spoke about how much he hated Andrew Tate and said misogyny is unacceptable
For once he is not following a script and repeating pre-agreed tag lines. He might have had a more successful campaign if he had done this sort of thing from the start.
I think the problem is he hasn't had an issue he's cared about, truly and personally, before this. He's a fine public speaker, just a bad actor
Yeah, I want the Tories all gone, but you can go after them on their record, leave their race or anything like that out of it. Fucking reform, a bunch of troglodytes out there actually making us side with Sunak on something.
Yeah, racism sucks. I felt every word that Reform scumbag said. The thing is, you can throw red meat to the lions to keep them content, but when you run out, the lions will eat you instead. I find it hard to sympathise, even as a person of colour, because he wanted to placate these people for his political gain, but these people don't even acknowledge his political existence. The question is, do the Badenoch's, Patel's, and Braverman's learn this lesson.
No, because they always think they can tame the tiger. Spoiler alert: No, you cannot tame a live tiger, it is a goddamn tiger and it will eat you.
The Reform scumbag that turned out to be an actor paid by Channel 4?
He is an actor, who is also a scumbag bigot, who is also a Reform volunteer. That's it. You want to put those things in an order of "channel 4 paid someone to smear Farage" then let me tell you this .... COME TO MY STORE NOW, SNAKE OIL IS DOWN FROM £39.99 TO £29.99!! ORDER NOW FOR A FREE TIN FOIL HAT!
Which is fine The problem is he doesn’t show any of this with all of the other issues that effect the vast majority of the population like the cost of living, paying bills, wage stagnation
The moment it’s something that affects him personally, he can’t whip out the “ Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make”
He’s like every selfish Tory though. Only discovers the concept of empathy when they’re impacted.
You know they have just thought "oh we've hit the jackpot here Rishi, go and milk this for all it's worth!"
Hate this guy and want him out as soon as possible, but he's right that we cannot let our country devolve into "f****** p**"* politics. These people want to represent us but thankfully they only represent the worst of us. Sunak for all his faults is a level above these flooded basement dwellers...
It reminds me of the bible passage of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. What did the man expect with his anti foreign, anti immigrant rhetoric? That people would just be xenophobic but not racist?
He is the very one who has greatly contributed to its devolution though. I actually specifically remember both him and braverman throwing out red meat about Pakistani men in particular so it's ironic that he's drawing this red line when it's turned on himself. Sunak is not a level above the basement dwellers. He is their zookeeper and has been nurturing and feeding them for years.
He has propagated a hateful and bigoted rhetoric towards immigrants, he has repeatedly pandered to racists and tried to remove the human rights protections of all of us but now because the racists he's sought to appease shockingly don't like his race it's a step to far and we need civility? civility from the man who mocks dead transgender children he gets what he deserves
STOP THE BOATS! STOP THE BOATS! GET RID OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT! *FOREIGN* COURTS! Wait, I've empowered racism and allowed it to infiltrate into politics? Oh dear...
You can't accept racism just because it is directed at someone who has themselves been a bigot.
I can accept it is an inevitability and not provide sympathy. Serves him right for empowering racists.
Well we have to agree to disagree then. I don't think racism is ever acceptable.
That's not what that person said.
Saying 'he gets what he deserves' it is clearly u/[Jumpy-Tennis881](https://www.reddit.com/user/Jumpy-Tennis881/) saying racism is acceptable against Rishi.
That user literally said "serves him right", how else are you meant to interpret that other than 'deserves it because he brought it on himself'.
By saying someone deserves something you're saying it is acceptable. I think Sunak deserves to be called all sorts of unpleasant things, but those would be related to his views and actions and not his ethnicity.
I agree completely with Sunak on this. But, also…Frank Hester?
I wonder if this would be different if that Andrew Parker guy had donated £15m to the Conservative Party?
Of course it would, which naturally raises the question of what the minimum amount of money is that would see Sunak tolerate racism
I was thinking this. If Reform were following the Tory rule book then the offender could apologise for being rude, Farage could accept it without asking Sunak, and job done.
I remember hearing the same language on the evening of the Brexit vote as a reason to leave the EU. Sadly Gove, Johnson, May, Truss, fed that beast and now Sunak is left holding the fruits of their labour. It’s especially hard to feel sympathy after Hester too (I also agree that this language is odious and sad it’s taken so long for someone in the Tories to address it)
This is the only worthwhile thing he's said on this campaign. Annoying that if this is how he feels, he still perpetuates the same divisiveness with his own party.
Them not taking Reform on directly will be the mistake of the last few years imo
Well they’ve tried everything else.
I don't like this feeling, but Rishi has said something that I agree with.
They've been blowing that dog whistle and courting this sort for years. The actions of the Tory Party by lurching to the right have empowered this lot, and now they're seeing the result of it.
Does anyone know what was actually said?
Watch the original Channel 4 report https://youtu.be/JmkMpYbOoO0?si=0UXXHa483MW2ZZ_l
Some of the comments on that youtube page are seriously deranged, actually most of them in fact One of their own gets caught out red handed but all they do is denounce it with some made up crap about the guy being a 'hired actor' and other nonsense
Yeah... I fear we're seeing the inception of the same cult of personality for Farage that we see for trump.
That's Farage's talking point on this, they've found an acting profile for the guy (he's a union member but looks like it's for a tiny amount of extra work, totally plausible for a random reform guy to have). For Farage's talking point to be true, they'd be claiming that Channel 4 or Sunak hired a crappy actor to play a racist character \*without using a fake name\*, to smear the party by saying things that they say all the time onine??? A guy calls the lgbt flag degenerate crap, and it's not even the guy they are saying was a plant.
Cheers
wait wasn’t this dude an actor who put on his *”rough voice”*. So literally acting out a role and it just so happens Channel 4 caught him saying racial slurs i’ve not heard from anybody in about 20 years? you can’t be serious… wait, i’m on reddit, you’re serious.
Can you provide any evidence that this is not his real voice? Lots of people saying this but I’ve not seen any evidence so far. Also plenty of people still say that word and even if they didn’t, he’s an old man so would make sense for him to use an old fashioned word.
The evidence is claimed to be from [this clip](https://x.com/jamesks92/status/1806635327605400052?t=DkSbkoclKF9jGZrE-OXO_A&s=19) where he starts in his 'natural voice' and then goes into his 'rough voice' playing a character later.
this is his real voice: https://x.com/ukJ0N/status/1806691264466681911 this is his *rough voice*: https://x.com/ukJ0N/status/1806691268187345135 (edit: updated to show correct link) this is the Channel 4 programme: https://x.com/ukJ0N/status/1806691272369041751
First 2 are the same video but regardless, his voice doesn’t even sound that different to how it does in the c4 video. Don’t you think it’s more likely he’s putting on a bit more of a ‘proper’ sounding voice in the first video than the other way around? This is like comparing how I would talk in a job interview to how I would talk with my mates at the pub.
my apologies, i’ve just updated the second link. Maybe i live in my own magic bubble but nobody talks like that in real life and it just so happens the man is an actor. And it just so happens to be Channel 4, whose producers have a record for going after the Brexit party and Farage in general via lies, bribed and subterfuge. I’m not even bloody going to vote for them but it’s just the lies and f***ing propaganda i’m pissed off with.
There are plenty of people who talk like that in real life, it’s not even that extreme of an accent. I understand being upset with lies and propaganda but that just isn’t what’s happening here.
I actually think there should be an investigation. C4 shouldn’t get away with this during an election.
You’ve not heard paki in about 20 years? I’ve had it yelled at me twice already this year.
I’m sorry to hear that. i suppose i should be grateful that i live in Crawley then, turns out it’s much more cosmopolitan than i thought.
My sentiments are shared with many here so I wont go into that. But what i do want to say is - where has this Sunak been this entire time? This is a man speaking like a normal human being. Speaking as an angry, real father. This is a part of him I can, and do, genuinely relate to. He's had an incredibly privileged life by most accounts, but at the end of the day he still has to deal with the same shit that so many brown folks in this country have had to for generations. This is the first time i've ever seen him speak from the heart. And good on him for it.
Yes - I nearly had a stroke when I realised I agreed with him and even further, *empathised* with him.
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It also helps to remember Sunak doesn't find racism toward black women troubling enough to take his hand out of a racist donor's pocket. He also couldn't find a word to say against that donor's racism until Badenoch spoke out and forced him to. It's nice that good people can on the other side can find sympathy for Sunak, but also worth remembering his recent actions show he's only genuinely outraged by racism if it's directed at people like him.
Its because this time he's personally affected and therefore actually cares. All the other times we see him speak, he doesn't actually care. That's the difference.
I’m not a fan of conservatives or Rishi. But this has nothing to do with people politics and everything to do with someone’s morality. There is absolutely no place for Racism in politics or society as a whole and what was said was disgusting.
He’s not going to mention the other stuff. Just the words that were said about him?
Exactly.
Reform supporters aren't put off by these revelations. They're proud of them.
The term was abhorrent, but I don't care about sunak being upset. Him and his cronies have accused my disabled kids and wife of not contributing to society, would he care about the anger and hurt felt by disabled people and their loved ones? No, he won't give two shits, because he has no interest in showing any humanity towards my loved ones.
When someone calls someone of Indian origin a p*ki, they're not just insulting that person. They're insulting everyone of South Asian origin in the UK, and quite frankly everyone of South Asian origin in the entire world. Which includes me. So, despite Rishi Sunak trying his utmost to make our worldwide reputation go down even more, this is still personal to see that probably one of the most powerful Indian-origin people in the world still faces this so nakedly.
Of course, I'm genuinely shocked that there hasn't been more racism towards Rishi. I don't know if it's because English people are better at dog whistle racism than Americans were with Obama. None of that expose was surprising, and I doubt it'll turn too many people who were going to vote for them for voting for them away.
There frankly hasn't been enough of a chance to see the racism towards Rishi. But yeah, in my admittedly small experience with the UK, it's more likely to be people who won't say much in public but will privately vote for someone "properly British" (like that radio caller a year ago and a couple more news stories.) It really wouldn't surprise me if a detailed analysis found that racism was partially responsible for the level of blowout the Tories are seemingly going to get, though of course there's a smorgasbord of factors to choose from
Our local reform candidate is a British born Sikh who was in the British army. Theres no way reform or their supporters will ever see him as properly English. Hell, I'm white Irish but born in London, my wife is from southern Spain, but born in London too. We've had neighbours, the type who openly say they vote for far right parties, that my wife is Spanish, and I'm English. I ask them why, is it because she has brown skin and speaks another language fluently, and they clam up. It's not enough for them to be racist, they want to control people's experiences of being part of an immigrant upbringing. It's a pathetic attempt to bully and dominate people's lives.
This is the first time this dude has seemed genuinely human and likeable. As someone who’s also been called a “fucking paki” before, I totally get where he’s coming from and empathize. This campaign probably needed more of this Rishi, being genuine. He’d still have lost but at least with grace. But fuck these Reform candidates into the sun.
I feel so torn. Naturally, racism is disgusting, i feel for him and I love to hear a serious tone from a politician like this. However, i can’t help but feel frustrated since he is fuelling kind of fuelling this rhetoric. And also advances classism on major scale. I don’t think most of the UK population will feel this way though and this reaction is probably a big W for his campaign.
But when Frank Hester said Diane Abbott should be shot and that she makes him want to hate all black women, that was worth mild condemnation and not enough to stop him from taking Hester's money. What was said is repellant. It is offensive. Not a lot being said about the "our police will be paramilitaries" or the remarks about the police showing a pride flag and calling it "degenerate" or that gay people are paedophiles. It was more than one person in Clacton being grossly offensive. It's like the lowest, scummiest people are attracted to Reform. I can't imagine why...
This is prime leopards eating faces material.
This might be the first and only time I say this: I completely agree with Sunak here. The language I saw on that undercover video of the Reform canvassers was unbelievable. Such a disgrace to the UK political system. Regardless of how much I dislike Sunak, no one deserves to be spoken about in that way. It is so unintelligent, if you disagree with him there's a long list of non-racist things you can say, it is never okay to resort to hate speech.
… but dog whistles by Home Secretaries are fine.
Isn't this the exact culture you have enabled?
1. Completely right to call it out for what it is, it is rather concerning just how lax some people are with a horribly offensive term and the way that a lot of British Asians have kind of gotten used to just shutting up with it rather than calling it out. 2. Trying to discredit him being angry about this and showing a truer emotion because of other examples of racism that he didn't do that is honestly a little bigoted and I would argue part of the reason we have got into the state we are in right now.
> Trying to discredit him being angry about this and showing a truer emotion because of other examples of racism that he didn't do that is... part of the reason we have got into the state we are in right now. The tories not addressing clear examples of bigotry until it came back to bite them *IS* how we got into the state we are in right now.
"Woah this affects me so I'm upset about it" Too bad you can't extend that empathy with things that don't affect you, isn't it?
I honestly like Sunak more than I ever did Cameron, May & Johnson. My gut feeling is that he’s probably an alright bloke on a personal level. I don’t really get the particular animosity toward him on this sub - aside from the whole being a Tory MP thing of course. I’ll be glad to see the Tories kicked out, but for me it would have been somewhat more satisfying seeing any of those three mentioned above on the receiving end of an historic kicking than Sunak. They all deserved it significantly more than Sunak.
I think a big problem with Sunak is he has tried too hard to come across as something he isn't in an attempt to be relatable. Just being himself would likely have been more sincere and served him better.
May was alright
Same to all of the above really.
I would not be surprised if Reform support goes up after this incident
I'll be intrigued to see if this reflects in how he (or the Tories in general) polls. The UK has always had a bit of a thing for the underdog, so if Rishi can spin this to 'put upon but holding on strong' it might actually be a bit of a boon for him. It would be interesting to see him try and do a 'never surrender' and 'woe is me' storyline at the same time. Also of interest is how this will reflect on Reform - my assumption is it would knock them down a few pegs (even with Nige trying to claim it's all a big fix), but then chunks of their audience seem to really like the idea of bumping off immigrants and murdering people who aren't white, so it could prove beneficial to him. Farage claiming he finds this abhorrent while utterly ignoring the several incidents that you can't play off as being an actor or whatever is entertaining to see. Whatever happens, and whatever side of the ever more complex fence you sit on, nobody should have to come up against blatant racism in their life or while doing their job. Knock the man down for his colossal failures, not his ethnicity.
I agree with most of the comments here, condemning the remarks that were made towards his family. And for a second I don’t want to victim blame here, but there is something missing from the conversation here and that’s how the Tories have been perpetuating a racist discourse over the past few years. I always felt casual racism was very slowly on its way out and it was getting more and more taboo - but in recent years, especially post Brexit and very much in the run up to this election casual racism has crept in and there is no denying that we have become more divided. The Tory part have been hugely responsible for letting us drift to the right, for a lot of people Brexit was just a way to express how they felt towards foreigners and we need to face that. Sorry, but this is kind of behaviour towards his family is disgusting but it’s not shocking we have gone back here.
I’m not from UK, so asking this: What is the p word?
First 4 letters of Pakistan. At some point in the past it was (I assume) a way to refer to people from Pakistan, much like how Afghan refers to people from Afghanistan. However, it's been used as a slur for anyone from South Asia for as long as I can remember.
All he had to do was do this from day one with Reform and also with Hester. Simple things. It doesn't backtrack from his policies. Yes, I want to be a PM who brings immigration down. Yes, I want to be a PM that deters false asylum claims. But no, I do not want to actively hurt or endanger anyone regardless of their nationality or ethnicity. For weeks and months, Sunak didn't do that until now. This is where the Tory poll bounce is and he didn't want to pick the overdue fight with Reform despite his party being the one to lose votes to them
Even if it was a paid actor it's still not acceptable, i don't get this whole defending xenophobic rubbish with "it was x/y/z" or the victim blaming.
Mate he’s not a paid actor — this is just what these people are like. Don’t believe that shit spouted by the reform party