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Jacob Rees-Mogg used racist term in House of Commons during swipe at “lunatic” cycle lane plans

Commons Leader also asked to apologise for “extremely offensive racist term” used in answer on Southport bike lanes

Leader of the House of Commons Jacob-Rees Mogg yesterday hit out at what he said must be “lunatic” cycle lane plans set out by a “terrible socialist council” in Merseyside that are being opposed by the local Conservative MP and Liberal Democrat councillors. It was that alliance that led Rees-Mogg to describe the Liberal Democrats as “the yellow peril,” which saw the North East Somerset MP accused of racism on social media. 

Rees-Mogg was asked to apologise to the House of Commons due to the phrase’s 19th century roots which grew out of anti-East Asian backlash in Western Europe and the United States.

Rees-Mogg was taking questions related to the business of the House of Commons when Damien Moore, the Tory MP for Southport, said that the seaside town “is under attack from the vindictive policies of Labour-controlled Sefton Council, which is trying to impose a cycle network on my constituency.

“Residents, businesses, disability groups and safety campaigners are against it,” he claimed, without specifying which organisations in particular opposed it.

“Revenues are already down because of an existing scheme, and the inaccurate data used to support this scheme is truly shameful,” he added, asking if Rees-Mogg would “make time available to debate these schemes, which I know concern many across the House?”

The council is currently running consultations, which close this Sunday 25 July, on two walking and cycling routes – one from Hesketh Park to the Plough Roundabout, the other from Birkdale to the Ainsdale Roundabout.

Consultations, of course, are aimed at gathering views for and against proposals, enabling local authorities to take informed decisions and, if necessary, amend original plans, although from the phrasing of Moore’s question, he already seems to have made his mind up on the issue.

It’s unclear how well-briefed Rees-Mogg was on the specific situation in Southport, although his use of the word “lunatic” suggests that he, too, holds preconceptions – and at a time when the government in which he is a senior figure is encouraging councils to implement active travel schemes and is providing funding for him.

He said: “I hear gossip that [Moore] is actually working in collaboration – whisper it quietly – with the Liberal Democrats in his area against these schemes.

“It shows how completely lunatic they must be that they have created an alliance between [him] and the yellow peril. I congratulate him on his broadmindedness.

“We have to remember the convenience of motorists and the need to have capacity on the roads for motorists, and cycle lanes need to be safe and take into account the views of locals,” Rees-Mogg added.

Noting that the consultation period had been extended to 25 July, Rees-Mogg added: “I am sure that many people will want to send in their views to this terrible socialist council.”

The Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, Thangam Debbonaire asked him to apologise for his “yellow peril” reference, without specifically mentioning it.

She said that he had used “an extremely offensive racist term” and hoped he had done so “unintentionally.”

She added: “I find it really difficult to understand but I am sure it may be possible that he was not aware that it was, in relation to the Liberal Democrats.”

In response Rees-Mogg said: “If I have used a term that is offensive I apologise profoundly.

“I had absolutely no intention of using a term that was offensive.”

“I don’t actually know what term I used that was offensive, so if out of ignorance I have, I apologise,” he added.

In its FAQ on the consultation page, the council said: “The walking and cycling routes are for everyone, for young people getting to school or college, for people getting to work at Smedley or in Southport town centre, for people wanting to get out and about to visit places such as the park. 

“We have used the latest government guidance and national best practice to create walking and cycling routes which are of high quality that people will feel safe using them and will be able to use them with all their family members.   

“55 per cent of people in Southport live within 200 meters of the routes,” it continued. “The whole route including the part through town will connect people to lots of places they want to go to such as schools, colleges, parks, sports and fitness clubs, Village centres and Southport Town Centre. 

“This corridor was shown in the Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plan as a walking and cycling route,” it added.

> Andrew Adonis slaps down Jacob Rees-Mogg with penny-farthing joke

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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52 comments

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Bungle_52 | 3 years ago
3 likes

Just in case any one is interested in the local view here is a link to a slightly more balanced coverage of the issue.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/ridiculous-good-star...

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Sriracha replied to Bungle_52 | 3 years ago
3 likes

Wow - that really is a bit of decent reporting on the issue. But I did have to laugh at the juxtaposition of the photo with the nay-sayer's comment (below).

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Hirsute replied to Bungle_52 | 3 years ago
8 likes

Matt Howard, who took over the management of Rueters bar on Hoghton Street, agreed.

He said: “They’re an absolute bloody joke. It just takes all the parking away from people.

“Potentially I’ve got customers that aren’t coming because there’s no parking.”

May I suggest that perhaps customers should not be drink driving? How many people drive to a town centre pub/bar anyhow as opposed to getting a lift or using the bus? Are people now incapable of walking a short distance from a car park?

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Alessandro replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
4 likes

Drink driving aside (the low and no alcohol market is booming at the moment so it's entirely plausible that this publican does generate a reasonable income from drivers), how the publican can be aggrieved at the loss of parking is beyond me. If you take a look at Google Streetview then you can see that the front of the building used to have off-street parking for pub-goers back as late as August 2018. However, that's been removed in favour of an outdoor seating area. I've nothing against that (in fact, I happen to think it's a great idea) but it seems more that the manager/owner is upset at the loss of some public space which he was able to generate income from for which I have zero sympathy. Furthermore, there's also a public car park 3min walk from the pub. 

My heart does not bleed. 

 

Update: it appears that the owner of the pub is actually the "newly elected Cambridge ward councillor Sinclair Hesketh d’Albuquerque" (https://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/gallery...). If that's the case then he's hardly independent of this! 

 

Updated update: I'm wrong - seems to have been sold on to the Matt Howard (https://southportindependents.co.uk/rueters-bar-grill-in-southport-aims-...). 

 

Final update: It is owned by Sinclair! I emailed the pub to query why they are so concerned about parking when they themselves removed spaces and got a reply from Sinclair! 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Alessandro | 3 years ago
1 like

Yep, management and ownership is two different things sometimes. 

Although I would argue the parking space you mentioned in Streetview is staff only. Two cars with one blocking in the other is not customer parking. The outdoor area has pretty much always been there albeit it might have been extended to allow more customers when indoor eating was a no-no last year and this. 

But his drop in business, which he is blaming the cycle lane for, is actually more down to less people going out in various lockdowns AND less workers in the surrounding offices rather then the cycle lane itself stopping the few people who drove there from parking. 

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Rik Mayals unde... | 3 years ago
7 likes

Incredible, that on a cycling forum, a story about a cycle scheme has been taken over by rants about what JRM did or didn't say. 40 comments and only one referring to cycling. 🤦🏼

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Bungle_52 | 3 years ago
3 likes

As an ex resident of Southport I've had a quick look and the plan for Preston New Road looks to be particularly useful. Any current residents on here to give us an up to date view on this "lunatic proposal".

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MLE | 3 years ago
3 likes

When you want to shut down a debate you're losing then simply throw down the race card so that all the citizens will only focus on that. It's an instant reflex for a leftist to use the race card. It's like scratching an itch to them, done wthout even thinking. You could be debating them on the price of eggs in the supermarket and they would manage to find a way to call you a racist and have you cancled.

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nikkispoke replied to MLE | 3 years ago
9 likes

I would think that when you think you are losing a debate, cannot deal with facts or reality you make up answers such as 'impose a cycle network' when it is a consultation where the questions are asked of the local residents that the MP represents and where results will be made public. Using the statement that we need to 'remember the convienence of the motorist' presumably above all else inculding the safety, health, wishes and needs of the local people or constituents details a disrespectful and corrupt mindset.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to MLE | 3 years ago
2 likes

Interesting point. What debate was being lost though?

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Rendel Harris replied to MLE | 3 years ago
10 likes

Rees Mogg used a racist term. People aren't "throwing down the race card", they're pointing it out where it exists. It's an instant reflex for the right to use the "woke" card.

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Jenova20 replied to Rendel Harris | 3 years ago
0 likes
Rendel Harris wrote:

Rees Mogg used a racist term. People aren't "throwing down the race card", they're pointing it out where it exists. It's an instant reflex for the right to use the "woke" card.

Debatable. It's not a common insult. It's not even from this century, or well known. What he did do was call out the colour a certain political party plasters itself in, while criticising them. Context is key.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Jenova20 | 3 years ago
1 like

Although as many has pointed out, JRM is also not of this century in most of his attitudes.

I still think the terms "Lunatic" in relation to a cycle lane (or the council putting it in), and his use of "socialist" as an insulting description for everything to the left is just as hateful as using the term most would see as racist if used against the far east peoples even if not meant in that term when describing Libdems. Seeing his language in all of the discussions does show why they try to stop any actual interviews being done with him.

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open_roads | 3 years ago
4 likes

"The Yellow Peril" has been used in context with the Lib Dems for at least 20 years including by their own leaders.

This is a faux outage and just concocted for political point scoring.

From The Guardian (clearly a racist newspaper) in 2004:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/sep/28/election20053

 

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HarrogateSpa replied to open_roads | 3 years ago
9 likes

1) The fact that something has been going on for 20 years does not justify it if it is wrong.

2) Calling Lib Dems "the Yellow Peril" is puerile, but representative of the broken political system in Britain. Name-calling should be reduced or eliminated, and constructive debate encouraged. It's hard to see that happening under the 1st-past-the-post system.

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open_roads replied to HarrogateSpa | 3 years ago
3 likes

The Lib Dem's at the time (early 2000s) referred to themselves using the phrase to emphasise the "threat" they posed to the more established parties.

Have we now got to the point where groups are going to be corrected on what that are allowed to call themselves?

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Sriracha replied to HarrogateSpa | 3 years ago
0 likes
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mdavidford replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
0 likes

That's not actually them calling themselves that, though - they've just copied it from The Times.

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Sriracha replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
0 likes

Looked to me like the headline was their own, the article text was from The Times. But either way, they don't seem to have taken offence.
Edit - I see that you are correct about it being The Times' headline.

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dcddcd | 3 years ago
8 likes

Re-smogg using a 19thC term? That's almost contemporary for him. It's a strange world where people like him and Trump are taken seriously, by anyone.

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eburtthebike | 3 years ago
8 likes

"I had absolutely no intention of using a term that was offensive."

Apart from "lunatic" and "....terrible socialist council."  Neither of which could possibly be construed as offensive, unlike JRM himself, who is an offense to any person with morals.  I am becoming more amazed by the day at the effrontery and injustice exhibited by this government, the latest being Dawn Butler MP being excluded from the commons because she said that Boris is a liar, so you can be punished for telling the truth, but not for lying.

It's a toss up betwen JRM, Patel, Gove and Hancock as to who comes second in the lying, cheating, hypocrisy and cowardice stakes to Boris.

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HarrogateSpa replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 3 years ago
6 likes

'They are all the same' is plainly false*, but it is designed to excuse or justify bad behaviour. In this case your objective is to defend Johnson's dishonesty.

*Think about it. Are all TDF riders the same? No. Some are better at climbing, some at sprinting, some at time trials. Some dope, or did, others don't. Look at any profession, and 'they are all the same' is clearly untrue.

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alexuk | 3 years ago
5 likes

What a non-story. I've never heard Yellow Peril has a racist slur, and half of my family are chinese! Isn't there anything else more worthy to report on, rather than playing at race-baiting? I'm so tired of all the race baiting.

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adamrice replied to alexuk | 3 years ago
7 likes

One of the great things about reading is that it exposes you to new information, such as the fact that yellow peril is a racist slur.

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alexuk replied to adamrice | 3 years ago
1 like

Give it a break you tool. Its not a racist slur, let's all be a little grown up here. Are you one of the little darlings who are offended by everything?  Someone misinterpreting the innocent use of a word or a phrase isn't racisim; Its stupidity. You're as stupid as these other race baiters, that frankly, the world could do without.

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Captain Badger replied to alexuk | 3 years ago
8 likes
alexuk wrote:

Give it a break you tool. Its not a racist slur, .....

Are you joking?
It seems you are the one offended that someone had pointed it out to you....
Dude, I suggest that if you are using the term, you cease and desist.
Oh no, of course you've never heard of it. But you are also an expert on whether it's a slur....

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mdavidford replied to alexuk | 3 years ago
10 likes

alexuk wrote:

...you tool. ... let's all be a little grown up here...

Well you've not exactly made a great start.

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Hirsute replied to alexuk | 3 years ago
5 likes

You ok hun?

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to alexuk | 3 years ago
6 likes

It is amazing the amount of wierdly abstract racist terms that come from Boris and his chosen few. For example I didn't know picaninie was one, although sad to say that using letterboxes to describe muslim women in the full burka or niqab was one I was aware of due to social media before it was put out there by a sitting MP. 

Although I agree with you that JRM is very stupid, and was not meaning the racial slur in that sense, the point is someone of his education should have known. And anyway calling a cycle lane "lunatic" is also offensive to me. Calling it badly designed and not fit for purpose is true for some of them though.

 

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Gus T replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 3 years ago
1 like

That descrpition referred to children of colour, usually houseboys, there's a pub in Hull called "The Black Boy" which allegedly gets it's name from a child doorman that used to open the door to visitors. 

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