While Westminster waited on the government’s racial disparity audit, the trailed findings were unsurprisingly slammed by the left – furious that their belief in the UK’s institutional racism. The Runnymede Trust, despite not having read the report, was first out of the gates, with their chief executive saying she’s “deeply, massively let down” by the report, and that the government did not have the confidence of black and minority ethnic communities:

“Institutionally, we are still racist, and for a government-appointed commission to look into (institutional) racism, to deny its existence is deeply, deeply worrying.”

It looks like the Trust is less-than-confident their objections to the substance of the report will cut through, however. Guido’s seen an email sent from their Chief Executive Halima Begum, who is privately trying to undermine the commission’s author Tony Sewell:

“Tony Sewell was not considered a suitable person to chair such a commission, because of his previous damaging comments on race and other equality issues.

Those “damaging” comments being his belief that evidence of institutional racism is “flimsy”…

The email also says the Sewell report is expected to downplay the role of structural and institutional racism, and:

“repeat the myth that the ‘white’ working class are being disadvantaged because there is too much focus on the disadvantage faced by ethnic minority communities.”

Readers will be astonished to learn Halima Begum stood to be Labour’s 2019 candidate in Poplar and Limehouse…