Mercy Muroki's scathing attack of 'toxic' Labour Party before GB News role
MERCY MUROKI launched into a scathing attack on the Labour Party's "toxic" nature before becoming a fixture at GB News.
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Before being given a slot on the new channel GB news, Ms Muroki was firmly placed in UK political discourse and the so-called culture wars. At 25, she is the youngest member of the Government's race report Commission. She has also long been a vocal critic of the Labour Party and the left in Britain, accusing the opposition of kowtowing to the social and cultural zeitgeist.
She said this subservience had invariably led to both the left and Labour becoming "toxic".
In a piece for The Times' Redbox, the broadcaster argued that Labour had "for too long, endorsed a systematic campaign of intimidation on ethnic minority Tories".
Writing before the 2019 general election which saw the party suffer its worst defeat since 1935, she said: "If you’re an ethnic minority voter who cares even remotely about politics or race relations, there is a far more toxic problem rearing its ugly head that, if not stopped dead in its tracks, will eventually set freedom of thought and expression for black Brits back — and this one is a Labour problem."
She claimed the party and its left-wing elements had made ethnic minority voters feel as though they were batting for the wrong side in voting Conservative.
Ms Muroki continued: "The left have, for too long, endorsed a systematic campaign of intimidation on ethnic minority Tories.
"This ugly beast’s raison d’être? To set the parameters of black and brown identity and thought, and to make those things synonymous with the leftist identity.
"Vote Tory and you’re a 'race traitor'; a victim of Stockholm Syndrome; an 'Uncle Tom' waiting for a red-caped Mr Corbyn to fly in and unlock you from your shackles — and unlock your potential while he's at it.
"This phenomenon manifests in two ways: demonisation and delegitimisation.
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"I was once approached by a SWP member and told I was a 'disgrace' for being 'the only black person in the audience' at an event where a Tory MP was speaking that night — a logic surely only someone with the intellect of an amoeba could embrace, and a claim that was downright factually incorrect."
Kemi Badenoch, a black Conservative MP who was elected in 2017, recalled "an unfortunate incident where I got slapped in the face by a woman at a charity event who couldn’t accept that someone like me could be black".
Benjamin Zephaniah, a writer and poet, in 2018 claimed the strangest animal he'd ever seen was a "black Tory".
In response, Ms Muroki said: "Except I don’t understand what’s so strange about a demographic that disproportionately experiences aversive levels of socio-economic insecurity and exclusion (and is typically socially conservative, anyway) voting for a party that represents long-term economic stability, is pro-aspiration, and pro-social responsibility."
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Ms Muroki isn't the only person to believe that Labour has alienated and marginalised ethnic minorities.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Rakib Ehsan said "Left-wing culture warriors are pushing ethnic minority voters into the arms of the Conservatives."
While Labour continues to dominate in the broader ethnic minority population, Mr Ehsan noted that "there are signs that the Conservatives are chipping away and winning over a noteworthy chunk of non-white voters."
A poll carried out this month found a seven percentage point drop in support for Labour by British ethnic minority voters.
Yet, Labour still commands the support of half of these people.
The Tories have 28 percent of this population, a much smaller figure but up six percentage points in the same period.
Sir Keir Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner are currently focused on drawing up ways Britain can recover from the coronavirus pandemic equally.
This includes equal recovery regardless of gender, race, class or profession.
Many, like Ms Muroki, will likely be unconvinced by the party's efforts.
In her Redbox piece, she concluded: "Do Labour forget who they are dealing with?
"The parliamentarians they attack are not victims without agency who were dragged out of some back-alley at gunpoint by a monocle-wearing pale-skinned villain in a top hat and thrust into Conservative circles kicking and screaming.
"They — having often overcome the adversity of being first or second-generation immigrants and also working class — have worked their way up to owning businesses, up to law degrees, up to PhDs, up the ranks of our British Army and have chosen to be Conservatives.
"Would Labour have you believe that these successes were gained through tokenism rather than merit, too? I think not."