Boris Johnson has told Black Lives Matter protesters they should focus on the “positive stuff” around racial equality in the UK.
Speaking to broadcasters on Monday the prime minister said the UK had made “huge progress” on tackling racism, citing progress on education.
Download the new Independent Premium app
Sharing the full story, not just the headlines
It comes after Mr Johnson defended the existence of statues of slave traders in British cities, arguing that taking them down would “impoverish the education of generations to come”.
“What I would say to everyone thinking about this issue is that I totally understand why people feel outraged, certainly about what happened in Minnesota and the death of George Floyd,” the prime minister said.
“Everybody understands the legitimate right to protest against discrimination, against racism, in our society.
“I think this is a country that has made huge progress in tackling racism.
“We should look sometimes at the positive stuff – we’ve got more young black and minority ethnic kids going to university than ever before, more black kids doing the tougher subjects at school, doing better than ever before in school.
“We don’t hear enough of this positive stuff.”
Mr Johnson himself has been criticised for making racist comments in the past. In 2016 he suggested that “part-Kenyan” US president Barack Obama had an “ancestral dislike” of Britain.
1/16
The Edward Colston statue has been pulled down by Black Lives Matter protesters in Bristol. Colston was a 17th century slave trader who has numerous landmarks named after him in Bristol. Pictured is the statue covered up before it was pulled down
Tom Wren / SWNS
2/16
Protesters pulling down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston
William Want Twitter account/AFP
3/16
Protesters pulling down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston
William Want Twitter account/AFP
4/16
A protester presses his knee into the neck of the Edward Colston statue
Tom Wren / SWNS
5/16
The protest rally was in College Green, Bristol
Ben Birchall/PA Wire
6/16
The Edward Colston statue is defaced
Tom Wren / SWNS
7/16
Tom Wren / SWNS
8/16
A crowd gathers
Tom Wren / SWNS
9/16
Protesters dragging the statue of Edward Colston to Bristol harbourside
PA
10/16
The statue is rolled along the street before being dropped into a nearby river
SWNS
11/16
Tom Wren / SWNS
12/16
Tom Wren / SWNS
13/16
Protesters throw the statue of Edward Colston into Bristol harbour
PA
14/16
Ben Birchall/PA Wire
15/16
TWITTER/SELLOTTIE via REUTERS
16/16
PA
1/16
The Edward Colston statue has been pulled down by Black Lives Matter protesters in Bristol. Colston was a 17th century slave trader who has numerous landmarks named after him in Bristol. Pictured is the statue covered up before it was pulled down
Tom Wren / SWNS
2/16
Protesters pulling down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston
William Want Twitter account/AFP
3/16
Protesters pulling down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston
William Want Twitter account/AFP
4/16
A protester presses his knee into the neck of the Edward Colston statue
Tom Wren / SWNS
5/16
The protest rally was in College Green, Bristol
Ben Birchall/PA Wire
6/16
The Edward Colston statue is defaced
Tom Wren / SWNS
7/16
Tom Wren / SWNS
8/16
A crowd gathers
Tom Wren / SWNS
9/16
Protesters dragging the statue of Edward Colston to Bristol harbourside
PA
10/16
The statue is rolled along the street before being dropped into a nearby river
SWNS
11/16
Tom Wren / SWNS
12/16
Tom Wren / SWNS
13/16
Protesters throw the statue of Edward Colston into Bristol harbour
PA
14/16
Ben Birchall/PA Wire
15/16
TWITTER/SELLOTTIE via REUTERS
16/16
PA
He also wrote a novel while he was Conservative backbencher filled with highly questionable depictions of ethnic minorities and racial epithets.
On Thursday Health Secretary Matt Hancock criticised 31 ethnic minority Labour MPs and accused them to “identity politics” after they wrote to the Home Secretary Priti Patel accusing her to dismissing the concerns of protesters.
