Vox Political: Goldsmith Plays the Race Card against Sadiq Khan in Campaign to Be Mayor

Zac Goldsmith, the Tory candidate for mayor of London, has accused his rival, Labour’s Sadiq Khan, of playing the race card. Khan had objected to Goldsmith’s election literature, which described him as a ‘radical’ and ‘divisive’. Mr Khan believed that Goldsmith was trying to stir up prejudice against him as a Muslim. Goldsmith, however, has stated that he merely described him thus, because of his support for Corbyn. Mike says in his article, at http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2016/01/05/goldsmithkhan-who-exactly-is-playing-the-race-card-here/

Does nobody else think there’s something odd about Mr Goldsmith’s indignation – considering his campaign chiefs were said to be investigating an “Islamophobe canvasser” only days ago?

Join the dots: If the Goldsmith leaflet said Mr Khan – who is a Muslim – is radical, it’s not a huge stretch for any rank-and-file canvasser to draw the wrong conclusion and spread a message that is entirely inappropriate.

Furthermore, it seems odd that a campaign which states that identifying anyone as “the Muslim” is unacceptable would defend the use of the word “radical” in its leaflets. Even though “radical” is an acceptable political term, it has become associated with the word “Muslim” in a derogatory way.

This is the old trick, beloved of playground bullies, of sneering at someone in coded language and then feigning complete innocence. And for many Londoners, such language about a Muslim candidate will bring back memories of Lutfur Rahman at Tower Hamlets. His administration of the borough council was accused, not least by Private Eye, as being very heavily influenced by the politics of his local mosque, characterised by a strong bias towards Muslims and the Bengladeshi community against the other ethnic and religious groups.

I don’t know much about London politics, but Khan strikes me as being far less controversial in appearance and conduct than many other Labour MPs. In the 1987 election, for example, I can remember one of the tactics of the Sun was to put up pictures of various politicos along with supposed quotes showing them to be hard left, and, if Black or Asian, anti-White. Diane Abbott, for example, was quoted by the Sun to have said, ‘All Whites are racist’. Abbott still remains controversial, but has since gone on to become a respected parliamentarian. She even appears regularly on the Daily Politics with Andrew Neil. Despite the media, Tories and Blairites spitting teeth about Corbyn’s alleged radicalism, neither Corbyn nor Mr Khan are as extreme as their predecessors three decades ago, when the Tories were falling over themselves to push stories about ‘Loony Labour’.

This looks very much like Goldsmith and the Tories trying to play on people’s fears of Islam, while denying they are doing any such thing. It’s been a favourite Tory tactic for a very long time. Don’t be taken in. The person here trying to create division is Zac Goldsmith.

Tags: Andrew Neil, Asians, Bangladeshis, Blacks, Conservatives, Daily Politics, Diane Abbott, Islamophobia, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Party, Lutfur Rahman, Mayor of London, Private Eye, racism, Sadiq Khan, The Sun, tony blair, Tower Hamlets, Zac Goldsmith