Wes Streeting has claimed Nigel Farage’s “deafening silence” over the “racist” remarks made by his fellow Reform MP Sarah Pochin “says it all”.
The health secretary went on a furious attack in the wake of Ms Pochin telling Talk TV that it “drives me mad seeing adverts full of black and Asian people”.
Ms Pochin has since apologised, but Mr Streeting said: “She’s only sorry that she’s been called out and she said the quiet bit out loud.” He added: “The only way we are going to defeat this racism is to call it out and confront it for what it is.”
The Tories’ shadow home secretary Chris Philp refused to describe Ms Pochin as racist three times when pressed on the issue on the BBC. This follows controversial remarks made by his colleague Katie Lam, suggesting legal migrants should be deported.
Addressing the issue with Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC, Mr Streeting spoke of how on Friday, a day before the interview, he had been in one of his Ilford North constituency schools talking to teenage boys about their experience of racism in London, “one of the most diverse cities on earth”.
“What they are describing, and what we have seen on our streets in weeks, recent weeks and months, is a return of 1970s, 1980s-style racism that I thought we had left in the history books.”
Since the Labour conference in September, the party’s leadership has been openly attacking Mr Farage and Reform. The strategy is still not working in the polls, with Reform holding a 10-point lead over Labour in the most recent Techne UK poll for The Independent.
But Mr Streeting warned: “I think what [Ms Pochin] said was a disgrace. I think it was racist, and the deafening silence from her party leader [Farage] says it all. Reform is a party who think that our flag only belongs to some of us… who look like me, not all of us who have built this country, built its success.”
With Remembrance Day approaching, Mr Streeting evoked memories of the Second World War, noting: “People who bled and died for our democracy and our freedom weren’t just my grandfather and my great-grandfather who looked like me and worship the same God as me. It was people from right across what was then the empire, now the Commonwealth, people who are Muslim, people who are Sikh, people who are Hindu, people who look differently than you and I do.
“And we should remember that, defend it and fight for what this country stands for: decent, respectful and inclusive democracy, the most successful multi-faith democracy in the world. We stand for that; Reform don’t, and that’s why.”
The Independent has asked Reform for comment.
However, Arron Banks, a close ally of Mr Farage who stood as a Reform mayoral candidate in Bristol, has claimed Ms Pochin should not have apologised.
Copying in Ms Pochin’s apology, Mr Banks posted on X/Twitter: “I can’t see there is anything to apologise for.”
Speaking to Sir Trevor Phillips on Sky News, Zia Yusuf, a member of the Reform leadership, defended Ms Pochin.
He said: “She didn’t say those words and she has apologised, saying it was a poorly phrased thing to say, but you’ve got to put that into context. The caller, a gentleman called Stuart, called in and I think he was right to be upset about the massive under-representation of some groups in television advertising and significant over-representation of others, and we have to be able to talk about these things.”
Even in apologising, Ms Pochin sought to justify her remarks.
She said: “My comments on a Talk TV phone-in earlier were phrased poorly and I unreservedly apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention.
“The point I was making is that many British TV adverts have gone DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] mad and are now unrepresentative of British society as a whole. This is not an attack on any group but an observation about balance and fairness in how our country is portrayed on screen.”
Speaking earlier to Sir Trevor Phillips on Sky News, Mr Streeting also criticised resident doctors and members of the British Medical Association, who are about to go back on strike over demands for a 29 per cent pay rise.
He accused the BMA of having “some brass neck” in criticising the pace of the government in bringing down waiting lists in the NHS.
Mr Streeting warned that resident doctors were “hurting patients and NHS recovery” as well as costing the health service £250m with their planned strike.
He said: “Never the BMA talking about waiting lists. They do everything. They’re doing everything they can to hamper our progress with unnecessary and unreasonable strike action.”
