Sir Keir Starmer has backed away from a Labour call for Buckingham Palace to “fully investigate” allegations of racism after the Duchess of Sussex claimed that a member of the royal family raised “concerns” about the likely skin colour of her son Archie.
The Labour leader said Meghan’s claims, which also included an allegation that she was told not to seek help when feeling suicidal, should be taken “very, very seriously”.
But asked repeatedly in a TV interview whether he backed shadow education secretary Kate Green’s call for a Palace investigation, Starmer sidestepped the issue.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman told reporters that the prime minister had not watched the interview when it was aired in the early hours of the morning, UK time, and declined to discuss his views on the Duchess’s allegations.
In the long-awaited TV interview broadcast in the US on Sunday, Meghan told interviewer Oprah Winfrey that the unnamed royal voiced “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”.
Meghan said there had been “several conversations” with her husband Prince Harry about Archie’s likely skin tone, and “what that would mean or look like”.
Asked by Winfrey whether the implication was that there were worries her child would be “too brown”, Meghan replied: “If that is the assumption you are making, that is a pretty safe one.”
Labour frontbencher Ms Green described the comment as “really distressing – shocking”.
Ms Green told Sky News: “If there are allegations of racism, I would expect them to be treated by the Palace with the utmost seriousness and fully investigated.”
She added: “There’s never any excuse in any circumstances for racism and I think it is important that action is taken to investigate what are really shocking allegations.”
Asked if the royal family needed to respond to the claims, Ms Green said: “I’m sure that the Palace will be thinking very carefully about that, and I certainly think people will be wondering what is going to be said.”
But Sir Keir notably declined to repeat her call when asked four times whether there should be an investigation in an interview later in the day during a visit to a school.
“I think they need to be taken very, very seriously,” he said. “They are allegations in relation to race and to mental health.
“For too many years – this is bigger than the Royal Family – we’ve been too dismissive. We can’t do that.
“It’s a reminder there’s a lot more to do. Nobody, but nobody, should be prejudiced because of the colour of their skin or because of their mental health issues.”
Asked whether the institution of the monarchy is fit for purpose, Starmer said: “Well they’re serious allegations and we’ll have to see how the institution reacts to this. It’s bigger in a sense than just the royal family because that experience of racism, I’m sad to say, is too prevalent still in 21st century Britain and we all have to take that seriously and redouble our efforts.”
