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Boris Johnson attacked over Obama 'part-Kenyan' comment Obama hits back at Boris Johnson's alleged smears
(about 5 hours later)
Boris Johnson has faced a barrage of criticism over comments about President Barack Obama's "part-Kenyan" ancestry. US president Barack Obama has hit back after Boris Johnson's comments about his "part-Kenyan" ancestry.
Writing in the Sun, the London mayor criticises Mr Obama's call for Britain to remain in the EU, calling it "downright hypocritical". Mr Johnson said the removal of a bust of Churchill from Obama's office was seen by some as a sign of an "ancestral dislike of the British Empire".
He suggests Mr Obama may have an "ancestral dislike of the British Empire" because of his own heritage. The comments in article for The Sun were branded "idiotic" and "deeply offensive" by Churchill's grandson.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell accused him of "dog whistle racism" and called on him to withdraw the comment. Mr Obama made clear his admiration for Britain's wartime leader in pointed remarks at a press conference.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he thought Mr Obama "bears a bit of a grudge" against the UK. He did not mention Mr Johnson by name but said he had a bust of Churchill outside the Treaty Room - his private office on the second floor of his official residence.
Responding to Mr Johnson's comments, a spokesman for the Britain Stronger In Europe campaign said: "Desperate, shameful stuff from Boris mentioning Obama's Kenyan ancestry. Why does that matter, exactly?" "Right outside the door of the Treaty Room, so that I see it every day - including on weekends when I'm going into that office to watch a basketball game - the primary image I see is a bust of Winston Churchill," he said.
Sir Stephen Wall, Britain's former permanent representative to the EU, who is campaigning for a Remain vote, said: "Boris Johnson's comment implying the President of the United States is driven by his ancestral dislike of the British empire is demeaning to the debate. "It's there voluntarily because I can do anything on the second floor. I love the guy."
"Using that type of language does not reflect Britain's standing in the world or the country we aspire to be." 'Delighted'
Mr Obama kicked off a three day visit to the UK with an article in The Daily Telegraph backing Britain's membership of the EU. It had been in the Oval Office, he said, but: "There are only so many tables where you can put busts otherwise it starts to looks a little cluttered."
'Deeply anti-democratic' As the first African American president, he said, a bust of Martin Luther King would be "appropriate", to remind him "of all the hard work of a lot of people who somehow allow me to have the privilege of holding this office".
Mr Johnson, who is campaigning for Britain to leave the EU in the referendum on 23 June, has argued that America would never give up control of its own affairs in the way that the UK has done as a member of the EU. He added: "That's just on Winston Churchill. I think people should know that, know my thinking there."
In his Sun column, he says: "It is deeply anti-democratic, and much as I admire the United States, and much as I respect the president, I believe he must admit that his country would not dream of embroiling itself in anything of the kind. Mr Johnson said he was "delighted" by Mr Obama's backing for Churchill, but did not respond to questions about whether he had been trying to suggest the US President had a grudge against Britain.
"It is incoherent. It is inconsistent, and yes it is downright hypocritical. The Americans would never contemplate anything like the EU, for themselves or for their neighbours in their own hemisphere. Why should they think it right for us?" 'Deplorable'
Mr Johnson refers in his article to the removal of a bust of Sir Winston Churchill from the Oval Office when Mr Obama became president. Speaking earlier on a visit to a fast food restaurant in his Uxbridge constituency, Mr Johnson said: "The crucial point is that I'm a big fan of Barack Obama - I was one of the first people to come out in favour of him ages ago.
"No-one was sure whether the president had himself been involved in the decision," he said. "But I think there's a weird paradox when the President of the Unites States, a country that would never dream of sharing its sovereignty over anything, instructs or urges us politely to get more embedded in the EU, which is already making 60% of our laws.
"Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president's ancestral dislike of the British Empire - of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender." "I think the issue really is about democracy - America guards its democracy very jealously and I think we should be entitled to do so as well."
'Tea Party rhetoric' Downing Street said Mr Johnson was recycling "false" claims in relation to Churchill's bust.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's The World at One, Mr Farage said: "I think Obama, because of his grandfather and Kenya and colonisation, I think Obama bears a bit of a grudge against this country." Churchill's grandson, Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Soames, who is campaigning for Britain to remain in the EU, called the article "deplorable" and "completely idiotic".
'Unacceptable smear'
He told LBC Radio: "I like to think, possibly - I'm mad enough to think - that it was probably written by some little twerp who works for Boris. I can't believe that Boris would really have done something so stupid, but whatever it is it bears his name and it is deeply offensive."
Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell called for Mr Johnson to withdraw his comment, writing on Twitter: "Mask slips again. Boris part-Kenyan Obama comment is yet another example of dog whistle racism from senior Tories."
Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Campbell of Pittenweem said Mr Johnson's comments constituted an "unacceptable smear".
But UKIP leader Nigel Farage defended the comments, saying: "I think Obama, because of his grandfather and Kenya and colonisation, I think Obama bears a bit of a grudge against this country."
Stories about the removal of the Churchill bust were described by the White House in 2012 as "100% false".Stories about the removal of the Churchill bust were described by the White House in 2012 as "100% false".
"The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room," a senior adviser said in a rebuttal."The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room," a senior adviser said in a rebuttal.
Shadow international development secretary Diane Abbott accused Mr Johnson of indulging in the kind of anti-Obama language favoured by right-wingers in America who have spread conspiracy theories about whether he is a natural-born US citizen.
"Boris dismissing President Obama as 'half-Kenyan' reflects the worst Tea Party rhetoric," she said.
John McDonnell tweeted: "Mask slips again. Boris part-Kenyan Obama comment is yet another example of dog whistle racism from senior Tories. He should withdraw it."
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas added her voice to the criticism, tweeting: "Just appalling from Boris Johnson. No place in the #EUref debate for this kind of desperate bigotry."
Former Lib Dem leader Lord Campbell said Mr Johnson's comments were "an unacceptable smear".
American citizenship
"Many people will find Boris Johnson's loaded attack on President Obama's sincerity deeply offensive," he said.
"If this is an illustration of the kind of diplomacy that we might expect from a Johnson leadership of the Tory Party then heaven help us."
Pro-EU Conservative MP Nicholas Soames - the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill - said Mr Johnson was being "even more unreliable and idle about the facts than usual".
A Churchill bust lent to President George Bush by Tony Blair was removed from the Oval Office along with other art lent to the Bush presidency after Mr Obama's 2009 inauguration "as is common practice at the end of every presidency", the White House said at the time.A Churchill bust lent to President George Bush by Tony Blair was removed from the Oval Office along with other art lent to the Bush presidency after Mr Obama's 2009 inauguration "as is common practice at the end of every presidency", the White House said at the time.
A separate bust of Britain's wartime leader, that has been in the White House since the early 1960s, remains on display.A separate bust of Britain's wartime leader, that has been in the White House since the early 1960s, remains on display.
Boris Johnson, who penned a best-selling biography of Churchill, was born in New York but recently said he intends to renounce his American citizenship to prove his "commitment to Britain". Mr Johnson said in his article: "No-one was sure whether the president had himself been involved in the decision", adding: "Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president's ancestral dislike of the British Empire - of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender."
The London mayor, who penned a best-selling biography of Churchill, was born in New York but recently said he intends to renounce his American citizenship to prove his "commitment to Britain".