David Coburn, the openly gay Kipper MEP for Scotland, is in the Groanoiad and Scottish Daily Mail for allegedly referring to Humza Yousaf as Abu Hamza in an interview with the latter paper. Yousaf is the MSP for Glasgow, and the Minister for Europe and International Development in the Scottish parliament. Yousaf and Coburn were due to take part in the BBC’s Big Immigration Debate, but Yousaf did not arrive. Coburn said of Yousaf’s failure to appear, “Humza Yousaf, or as I call him, Abu Hamza, didn’t seem to turn up.”
His remarks have been condemned by Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, the Conservative’s leader in Scotland, Ruth Davidson, and Kezia Dugdale, Labour’s deputy leader north of the border. Coburn, however, has said that the remark was supposed to be private, while the Kipper’s Scottish chairman, Arthur Misty Thackeray, said he had simply got the name wrong through a slip of the tongue.
Yousaf, understandably, is outraged, and said: “I am utterly appalled, disgusted and hurt by the comments allegedly made by David Coburn MEP. This is Islamophobia of the worst kind.
“If this was shouted at a Muslim on the street none of us would tolerate it. The fact that this abuse has come from an elected member of the European parliament is even more shocking and completely unacceptable.
“Nigel Farage has been plagued by accusations of leading a racist party and this outburst from David Coburn MEP shows that Ukip is not just a party with a few rotten apples but rotten to the core.
“If Nigel Farage is serious about Ukip being a party that will not tolerate xenophobia in any form then I expect David Coburn to be expelled from Ukip immediately and have written to Nigel Farage in that vein.”
Yousaf added: “David Coburn has been exposed making Islamophobic remarks and should do the honourable thing and resign”.
He has also written a letter calling on Farage to suspend Coburn while the incident is investigated. If it is found that Coburn made the offensive remark, then Coburn should be expelled.
This is nowhere near the first time Coburn has been at the centre of controversy. The prospective MEP for Falkirk was in the news not that long ago for hurling names and personal insults at two female Scots politicos. He also has a rather peculiar attitude to gay rights. Coburn is openly gay, which itself is remarkably given the bitter hatred of gays by many members of his party. He does not, however, believe in gay marriage, which he says has harmed them.
His calling Humza Yousaf ‘Abu Hamza’ may be an innocent slip of the tongue, as Arthur Misty Thackeray said. He compared it to them times people mistakenly called him ‘Minty’ instead of his proper second name. But as he’s shown himself perfectly willing to call his opponents names, I really don’t think so.
And it also points to something much darker. The Islamphobic Right – the EDL, and anti-Islam sites like Gates of Vienna, are deeply suspicious of the Scottish Nationalists because of Alex Salmond’s promotion of Muslims like Yousaf to important ministerial role. They really do see British Muslims as constituting a ‘fifth column’, intent on taking over and Islamising Britain. In their eyes, the accession to high office by Muslims north of the border is part of this process, and demonstrates that Salmond and his successors are deliberately selling out and undermining non-Muslims and traditional British culture.
Many of the Kippers share these pernicious views. Farage himself has made comments about British Muslims being infiltrated by radical preachers and those who are hostile to the British people and democracy. And a year or so ago, one of the Kipper councillors in Wiltshire was forced to step down after a scandal in which he predicted that in the next decade there would be a war between Non-Muslim British Nationalists and Muslims for control of Europe. This is the exact views of many members of the EDL and BNP.
Coburn might therefore just be your usual extreme right-wing loudmouth, still carrying on the grubby tradition of racial slurs and personal insults from the days before ‘Political Correctness’, before the viewing stomach turned and Barnard Manning was forced off the airwaves.
Or he might really be a racist and Islamophobe, who really does fear Yousaf, and others like him, as the first wave in an Islamic take-over.
Tags: 'Gates of Vienna', Abu Hamza, BBC, BNP, Conservatives, David Coburn, EDL, European Parliament, Falkirk, gay marriage, Gays, Humza Yousaf, Islamophobia, Kezia Dugdale, Labour Party, Muslims, Nicola Sturgeon, Nigel Farage, racism, Ruth Davidson, Scottish Daily Mail, Scottish Parliament, SNP, The Big Immigration Debate, UKIP, Wiltshire
Beastrabban\'s Weblog 
March 14, 2015 at 6:02 pm |
For the UKIP Scottish chairman to say that anyone saying “Humza Yousaf, or as I call him, Abu Hamza,” is a slip of the tongue is a lie so great as to cause cause earthquakes.
If someone said “David Coburn, or as I like to call him Mr Blobby pie-face” would UKIP accept this a slip of the tongue too?
March 14, 2015 at 6:40 pm |
No, they wouldn’t, but you’re right – he does look like ‘Mr Blobby Pie-face’. It’s just racism/ Islamophobia, pure and simple. It’s pretty much the same kind of racist comments we’ve heard from the Kippers many, many times over, and which they’ll just keep repeating as long as they can get away with it.
March 14, 2015 at 6:03 pm |
Reblogged this on patricknelson750 and commented:
Yet more unacceptable behaviour from UKIP politicians…
March 30, 2015 at 8:29 pm |
Reblogged this on animatetim and commented:
This is a thoughtful and insightful blog.I could not say anything in any clearer way frankly. TIM WILSON
March 30, 2015 at 8:37 pm |
I think the slur about Abu Hamza is compounded by Farage’s claim that it is “just a crass joke”. Farage puts alot of emphasis on the word “crass” as if that makes it any better. To dismiss a serious issue, racism, as a joke in any form means that Farage does not understand the importance of this. That alone means he endorses the racism and, I think, makes him worse than Corburn. Coburn after all is demonstrably a bit of a buffoon- This is why I resigned last week. Since then, and this has so far not been reported in the national media, UKIP have launched an attack on my partner who is a torture victim. My partner is irrelevant to the debate, and the nature of the slur was unforgivable. Farage knows exactly what was written about my partner and particularly how this was understood in Greece where the torture took place. Farage has said nothing to apologise – I can only presume that he regards this asa joke too.
The two issues demonstrate very clearly that UKIP is racist to its core. It needs to be stopped.
Meanwhile, I will do my level best to make up for my involvement in a party that justifies hate and passes it off as humour.
March 31, 2015 at 5:10 pm |
Thanks for posting this, Timewilson. I’m glad you decided not to stomach UKIP’s racism any more, and resigned. I am sorry to hear that they’re targeting your partner, however. To pick on someone, who’s a victim of torture is particularly despicable, and I wish you all the best in dealing with them.