Jeremy Corbyn has condemned Labour MP Hugh Gaffney for making “completely wrong” racist comments.
At a Burns Night event for Labour students, MP Hugh Gaffney reportedly told the audience they were lucky he was there because he would otherwise be at home “eating a chinky”.
One student who attended the event said, “You could feel the room freeze around you, people were turning to one another and saying ‘did he just say that?'”
He also joked in a poem that Scottish poet Robbie Burns wasn’t “bent”.
The poem read, “He started off being a farmer. But he really was such a charmer. Going for ales he did frequent. Telling the lads and lassies he was not bent.
“Like all good Scots we love the banter. Rabbie had a pal Tam O’Shanter. The story goes he had a few ales. Riding his horse into the night. Passing the cemetery he gets a fright. He nearly done a s**te.
“As the shining stars came out. Meg his horse began to shout. Tam Tam ya bam. Can’t you see what is missing? Where is my tail I can’t stop p**sing.”
Asian Image reports that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has since condemned Gaffney’s remarks.
“He has apologised for what he has said and has been reprimanded for that,” Corbyn said.“He is undertaking the appropriate equality and diversity training and indeed he has met and talked to people in the Chinese community and is meeting other communities as well.”
“What he said is completely wrong, of course, but he has recognised and understood that and apologised and that’s what we’ve done.”
It would seem that Gaffney, who represents Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, will not be suspended.
