MEDIA RELEASE
12 April 2005

Embargo: none

COMMISSION FOR RACIAL EQUALITY CHAIRMAN ACCUSED OF 'GROSS HYPOCRISY' BY EU-SCEPTICAL GROUP

Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the CRE, has been accused of 'gross hypocrisy' by the Democracy Movement, for publicly condemning politicians yesterday (The Times, 11/04/05) who potentially fuel the flames of racism while, simultaneously, refusing to act against Europe minister, Denis MacShane, who has made an overtly racist comment.

Denis MacShane in an interview with the Daily Telegraph on August 7th 2004 said that the British people had 'a dark streak of xenophobia and racism' in their 'mentality'. Clearly, had such a negative attribute been claimed in relation to, say, African or Asian ethnic groups, there would, quite rightly, have been uproar.

Mr MacShane's comments were in the context of a crude attempt to smear critics of the EU Constitution as being motivated by 'racism'.

Marc Glendening, campaign director of the Democracy Movement, wrote to the CRE on 12/08/04 demanding that it issue a statement attacking the Europe Minister's self-evidently racist comment about the British people. The CRE responded saying that it did not 'investigate matters relating to the content of the media'. This was, and is, clearly untrue.

The CRE has failed to respond to three other letters and emails sent in relation to Mr MacShane's racist comment and the failure of the CRE to comment upon this.

When Robert Kilroy-Silk made derogatory comments about Islam in the Sunday Express, the CRE on January 8 2004 issued a statement saying: 'Our lawyers have considered the column and, in the light of widespread concern, we are referring the article to the police to consider whether it might constitute an offence under the Public Order Act in precisely the same way we did when a bonfire society in Sussex recently burnt an effigy of a Gypsy caravan.' Trevor Phillips, was also quoted in the press commenting on Mr Kilroy-Silk's article.

On the two occasions when Tory MP Ann Winterton made crass racist 'jokes' in public CRE spokesmen responded with comments to the media (May 6, 2002 and February 26, 2004). Earlier this year, the CRE attacked Michael Howard for his comments in relation to immigration policy.

Trevor Phillips said on January 27th 2004, in relation to the Kilroy-Silk episode, that: 'I think that the public has every right to expect consistency and transparency in the exercise of my judgement in these matters'. So, it is surprising that the CRE chairman refuses to say anything about Mr MacShane's outrageous comment.

The CRE is applying double standards, both politically and ethnically. It is quick to denounce, quite rightly, racist comments made by Conservative and other right wing figures that relate to ethnic minorities, but when New Labour individuals such as Denis MacShane make racist comments about the British people the CRE refuses, for some unknown reason, to comment.

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