A Nottingham MP has confirmed that she has deleted a tweet in which she said that the election of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister "isn't a win for Asian representation". Nadia Whittome, who has served as the Nottingham East MP since 2019, has issued several tweets about the confirmation of Mr Sunak as the new Conservative Party leader.
It means that he will become Prime Minister, and the first non-white person to hold the role. But despite the election of Britain's first Asian leader being welcomed by some, Ms Whittome highlighted Mr Sunak's personal circumstances to argue that "he is not on your side".
The tweet read: "Rishi Sunak as prime minister isn't a win for Asian representation. He's a multi-millionaire who, as chancellor, cut taxes on bank profits while overseeing the biggest drop in living standards since 1956. Black, white or Asian: if you work for a living, he is not on your side."
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The tweet has been deleted but in a statement to Nottinghamshire Live, a spokesperson for Ms Whittome said: "Like Rishi Sunak, Ms Whittome is second-generation British Indian. Ms Whittome was pointing to Rishi Sunak’s record as Chancellor to demonstrate that effective political representation of British Asian communities - and the interests of all working people - is about far more than the ethnicity of the Prime Minister.
"Following a discussion with the Labour Whips, it was agreed that Ms Whittome would delete the tweet." Mr Sunak's Indian parents moved to Britain in the 1960s and he was born in Southampton.
His confirmation as the new Conservative Party leader coincided with the Hindu festival Diwali, and his election was welcomed by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Ms Whittome's tweet was criticised by politicians including Bassetlaw's Conservative MP, Brendan Clarke-Smith, who said: "Quite unbelievable that people’s achievements don’t count if your political views don't fit in with their poisonous ideology."
Despite the deletion of the original tweet, Nadia Whittome did repeat her concerns around Mr Sunak's personal wealth by writing: "Rishi Sunak and his wife sit on a fortune of £730,000,000. That's around twice the estimated wealth of King Charles III. Remember this whenever he talks about making "tough decisions" that working class people will pay for."
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