When Labour’s shadow equalities minister Charlotte Nichols was caught distributing leaflets calling for the end to “traveller incursions”, Green party leader Jonathan Bartley was first on the scene with some performative outrage:
This is vile and obviously racist (“dealing with traveller incursions"). @Keir_Starmer how widespread is this kind of language in local Labour campaigns? Condemn this leaflet, apologise, and take appropriate disciplinary action.
— Jonathan Bartley (@jon_bartley) April 2, 2021
Standing in solidarity with the GRT community. https://t.co/vYDjoTxWre
Bartley asked Sir Keir “how widespread is this kind of language in local Labour campaigns?”. Guido can reveal it’s not just limited to Labour leaflets…
Green Party Solihull candidate Max McLoughlin was also out at the weekend delivering his local election leaflets, and readers won’t guess what he is promising:
“He works closely with the Police to keep Shirley as safe as it can be, and protect us against Traveller incursions”
To quote another of Jonathan’s Tweets almost word-for-word, “many questions remain unanswered – including how this happened and how widespread this unacceptable attitude to GRT communities within the [Green] Party is?”. Shirley Green Party won’t be happy to keep McGloughlin as their candidate. Or perhaps they will be – and don’t call them Shirley.
