The Labour Party has suspended MP Rupa Huq after she called Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng “superficially” black, on Monday (September 26).
The MP discussed Kwarteng’s private-school background, before saying that, if you heard the Chancellor on the radio, “you wouldn’t know he is black”.
It is thought that Dr Huq made the comments at a fringe event at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday. As a result, Labour removed the whip, suspending her from the party.
A spokesperson for the Labour Party said: “We obviously condemn the remarks she made, they are totally inappropriate, and we would call on her to apologise and withdraw them.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also told LBC Radio: “What she said, in my view, was racist, it was wrong and she’s been suspended from the whip in the party and that was done very, very quickly.
“I think that tells you how strongly I feel about those comments.”
In a statement, the MP has offered Mr Kwarteng “sincere and heartfelt apologies” for her “ill-judged” comments. But who is Rupa Huq?
Who is Rupa Huq?
Dr Rupa Huq, 50, is a Labour MP representing Ealing Central and Acton, a position she has held since May 2015. In 2019, she received 51.3 per cent of the vote and retained her seat.
She is a member of the Public Order Bill Committee, the Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee, the Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation, and the Panel of Chairs.
Prior to her political career, Dr Huq studied political and social sciences and law at the University of Cambridge and worked as a lecturer at the University of Manchester and Kingston University. She has a doctorate in European youth culture and worked as a DJ in her spare time.
Dr Huq was born in Hammersmith and grew up in Ealing. Her parents moved to London from Bangladesh, and her father ran an Asian restaurant.
She has two sisters, one of them television presenter and former Blue Peter host Konnie Huq, who is three years her junior.
In an article for the Times, Konnie wrote about her sister Rupa and said: “Rupa’s always been into politics. She did it at school and she’s been very politically inclined from the get-go, really. I remember her staying up all night watching the results of the 1992 general election.
“We went to a school where the colours were very patriotic: red, white, and navy blue. Everyone would wear navy-blue socks but she always wore red socks. We used to call her ‘Radical Rup’ in her red socks.”
The MP has contributed to papers, including the Guardian, New Statesman, and the Times Higher Education Supplement.
