The shadow justice secretary, David Lammy, has condemned Boris Johnson’s plan for a government commission to examine racial inequalities as “written on the back of a fag packet”, and intended as a distraction from the government’s lack of action over the issue up to now.
Lammy accused the prime minister of primarily seeking a culture war by announcing the plan in a comment piece for the Daily Telegraph, which was devoted mainly to reiterating his opposition to removing statues of historical figures.
Johnson said he was “extremely dubious about the growing campaign to edit or Photoshop the entire cultural landscape”, writing that he would “resist with every breath in my body” any moves to remove Churchill’s statue from Parliament Square, an idea that has not been proposed.
In separate comments to broadcasters on Sunday, Johnson said the “cross-governmental commission” would look into discrimination against black, Asian and minority ethnic people in education, health and the criminal justice system.
“We have to acknowledge that when thousands of people march peacefully for Black Lives Matter, you can’t ignore that. I, as a leader, as someone in government, I can’t ignore the strength of feeling,” he said.
Johnson gave no further details of the commission, who would staff it, or its remit or timetable. He has prompted criticism by saying he wanted to “stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination”.
Lammy, who led a 2017 report into racial disparities in the criminal justice system, commissioned by David Cameron, said the announcement left him feeling “slightly weary”.
“Black people aren’t playing victim, as Boris indicates, they’re protesting precisely because the time for review is over and the time for action is now,” Lammy told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I don’t know why he’s announced a commission behind a paywall in the Telegraph, buried in yet another article about Churchill. If he was serious, why are there no details about how it will be staffed, its remit, its terms of reference, its timetable?
“That’s the question. It’s because this was written on the back of a fag packet yesterday, to assuage the Black Lives Matter protests. Get on with the action. Legislate. Move. You’re in government – do something.
“I made 35 specific limit recommendations in the Lammy review. Implement them. There are 110 recommendations in the Angiolini review into deaths into police custody. Implement them. There are 30 recommendations in the Home Office review into the Windrush scandal. Implement them. There are 26 in Baroness McGregor-Smith’s review into workplace discrimination. Implement them. That’s what Boris has to do. And then the Black Lives Matter protests can stop, and we can get on with dealing with coronavirus.”
Lammy said he was baffled by the reference to Winston Churchill’s statue, which was defaced by a handful of Black Lives Matters protesters: “The Labour party isn’t talking about statues. The Lib Dems aren’t calling for Winston Churchill’s statue to be removed, neither are the Greens. The only person that wants to focus on Winston Churchill’s statue is the Conservative party, and frankly it’s bizarre. They want a culture war because they want to distract from the central issue.”
Also speaking on Today, Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate for mayor of London, defended the government’s actions on areas such as Lammy’s recommendations over criminal justice.
“I accept, some of the things in his own review could actually be changed,” Bailey said. “But very few of them are actually legal – they’re about procedures, they’re about how we deal with people, that’s what makes a difference.”
Johnson’s reference to “the sense of victimisation” prompted immediate criticism, and echoed a controversial article about Liverpool written when he edited the Spectator magazine, which accused the city of wallowing in a sense of victimhood.
Marsha de Cordova, the shadow women and equalities secretary, said the phrase was “condescending”. Lord Woolley, the founder of Operation Black Vote and chair of the government’s Race Disparity Unit, said the word was “an unnecessary distraction and to some will be seen as unhelpful”.
Johnson’s article for the Telegraph mentions the idea for the commission only in passing, in two paragraphs. The bulk of the piece is devoted to the prime minister’s views on statues and monuments, in the wake of the toppling of a statue of slaver Edward Colston by protesters in Bristol, and the boarding-up of Churchill’s ahead of protests last Saturday.
It was, Johnson wrote, “the height of lunacy” to accuse Churchill of racism, adding: “He was a hero, and I expect I am not alone in saying that I will resist with every breath in my body any attempt to remove that statue from Parliament Square, and the sooner his protective shielding comes off the better.”