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| Sarah Champion: Labour's 'floppy left' falls silent when issues touch on race | Sarah Champion: Labour's 'floppy left' falls silent when issues touch on race |
| (5 months later) | |
| MP for Rotherham, who resigned from Corbyn shadow cabinet over grooming gang remarks, says London colleagues don’t understand northern heartlands | |
| Press Association | |
| Sat 2 Sep 2017 08.08 BST | |
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| The Labour MP Sarah Champion has declared the “floppy left” is afraid of speaking out on issues such as sex grooming gangs for fear of being branded racist. | The Labour MP Sarah Champion has declared the “floppy left” is afraid of speaking out on issues such as sex grooming gangs for fear of being branded racist. |
| Champion last month quit her frontbench role as shadow equalities minister after a backlash for saying “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls”. | Champion last month quit her frontbench role as shadow equalities minister after a backlash for saying “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls”. |
| The Rotherham MP has now used an interview with the Times to highlight what she says are differences in attitudes between the capital and Labour’s northern heartlands. | The Rotherham MP has now used an interview with the Times to highlight what she says are differences in attitudes between the capital and Labour’s northern heartlands. |
| After her resignation, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – an MP in Islington, north London – said his party would not “blame” or “demonise any particular group”. | After her resignation, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – an MP in Islington, north London – said his party would not “blame” or “demonise any particular group”. |
| Champion told the Times: “If I’m on the floppy left, to be accused of racism is probably the worst thing you can call me. That fear will motivate me to step away from a lot of topics I’d maybe tackle head on if I didn’t have that phobia.” | Champion told the Times: “If I’m on the floppy left, to be accused of racism is probably the worst thing you can call me. That fear will motivate me to step away from a lot of topics I’d maybe tackle head on if I didn’t have that phobia.” |
| Her constituency was the scene of a grooming scandal and she said many Labour members and politicians based in London had “never been challenged by a reality that’s different” from their largely “tolerant, multicultural world”. | Her constituency was the scene of a grooming scandal and she said many Labour members and politicians based in London had “never been challenged by a reality that’s different” from their largely “tolerant, multicultural world”. |
| “London is not representative of the UK and it’s definitely not representative of the north of England in relation to race,” she said. “Rotherham and many post-industrial towns are still segregated.” | “London is not representative of the UK and it’s definitely not representative of the north of England in relation to race,” she said. “Rotherham and many post-industrial towns are still segregated.” |
| “[The] multicultural policies that I, through my working career, grew up with, and which Jeremy Corbyn grew up with, need a translation to come outside London.” | “[The] multicultural policies that I, through my working career, grew up with, and which Jeremy Corbyn grew up with, need a translation to come outside London.” |
| Champion stressed: “It’s not that Yorkshire’s racist, it’s that Yorkshire is very blunt and doesn’t sugar-coat anything. | Champion stressed: “It’s not that Yorkshire’s racist, it’s that Yorkshire is very blunt and doesn’t sugar-coat anything. |
| “In Rotherham, people’s frustration is that if they all knew what was going on, why didn’t the people who were meant to protect them do anything about it?” | “In Rotherham, people’s frustration is that if they all knew what was going on, why didn’t the people who were meant to protect them do anything about it?” |
| Champion’s comments about “British Pakistani men” came in a Sun column last month, leading to her resignation and an apology for her “extremely poor choice of words”. | Champion’s comments about “British Pakistani men” came in a Sun column last month, leading to her resignation and an apology for her “extremely poor choice of words”. |
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