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Boris adviser quits over race row

Sun Jun 22 21:11:03 UTC 2008

Boris adviser quits over race row

Sun Jun 22 21:20:57 UTC 2008

An adviser to London Mayor Boris Johnson has resigned after making an apparently racist remark to an undercover journalist.

A political adviser to London Mayor Boris Johnson has resigned after making an apparently racist remark to an undercover journalist.

The adviser, James McGrath, told Marc Wadsworth that "black people who didn't like it here could go back". Responding to a claim that some black people might leave the UK if Mr Johnson became mayor, James McGrath said: "Let them go if they don't like it here."
Mr McGrath said his remark was taken out of context and he was responding to an attack by a journalist against Mr Johnson during the mayoral campaign. Mr McGrath said his remark to Marc Wadsworth, who runs the-latest.com website, was taken out of context.
He said everyone at City Hall was "committed to serving all Londoners".He said everyone at City Hall was "committed to serving all Londoners".
Mr Wadsworth said that Mr McGrath made the comments when he pointed out a critical piece in a newspaper.
James is not a racist - I know that
Boris Johnson
In his online article he writes: "I pointed out to him a critical comment of Voice columnist Darcus Howe that the election of 'Boris Johnson, a right-wing Conservative, might just trigger off a mass exodus of older Caribbean migrants back to our homelands'.
"He retorted: 'Well, let them go if they don't like it here.' McGrath dismissed influential race commentator Howe as ‘shrill'."
Mr McGrath then wrote a comment on the website in reply: "The columnist suggested that older people from the Caribbean might migrant back to their homelands if Boris Johnson became Mayor.
"I felt that this suggestion was ridiculous and intended as a slur and responded by saying with words to effect of 'let people go if they don't like it here'.
"To imply that I meant that all black people who didn't support Boris Johnson should leave the country is utterly absurd and incorrect. And I would ask please that this insinuation is immediately retracted."
In a statement Boris Johnson said: "It is with great regret this evening that I have accepted the resignation of my political adviser, James McGrath.
"Unfortunately, his remarks in a conversation with an Internet journalist, published this weekend, made it impossible for him to continue in that role.
"James is not a racist. I know that. But his response to a silly and hostile suggestion put to him by Marc Wadsworth, allowed doubts to be raised about that commitment."