Brexiteer peer branded racist for calling Kamala Harris ‘the Indian’

The crossbench peer, who previously deleted a tweet describing then-Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar as a “typical Indian”, insisted there was “nothing racist” in his latest message.

Harris, a senator from California, this weekend made history as the first woman to be elected vice president when voters chose her and Joe Biden to replace Donald Trump in the White House.

Lord Kilclooney tweeted: “What happens if Biden moves on and the Indian becomes president. Who then becomes vice president?”

The Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, said the peer “should retract and apologise” after senior politicians said they would lodge complaints.

“This is an offensive way to refer to anyone, let alone a woman who has just made history. The comment is entirely unacceptable and has no place in British politics. I could not be clearer,” Lord Fowler added.

Conservative MP Simon Hoare, who is chairman of the Commons Northern Ireland affairs select committee, wrote that the message was “Bad. Rude. Racist. Appalling” and said he had submitted a formal complaint to the Lord Speaker’s office.

Labour’s leader in the Lords, Baroness Smith, added: “I am so angry about this comment. It is despicable and beneath contempt, and totally unacceptable from anyone – but especially from someone in Parliament.”

UUP leader Steve Aiken stressed the peer had not been a member of the party “for at least a decade” as he criticised the “reprehensible” remarks.

“There is simply no excuse for it. He should delete what he has said and apologise. This isn`t the first time he has done something like this, but it should be the last,” Mr Aiken said.

Labour shadow minister Wes Streeting added: “He did it before to Leo Varadkar and now he’s done it to Kamala Harris. This sort of racism would be unacceptable from anyone, but from a member of the House of Lords it beggars belief.”

Labour’s shadow justice secretary David Lammy added: “She is called Kamala Harris. Please send this awful comment straight back to the dark ages.”

Comedian Nish Kumar tweeted: “This guy is a life peer. What a country.”

Lord Kilclooney denied that his message was racist.

“The first thing is to get it in perspective, the criticism is minor, the support is massive – I’ve never had so many Twitter followers in one day, ever,” he told the PA News Agency.

“I’m very fond of India myself, I’m a member of the British India all-party group, I have two Indians (tenants) in my flats here in London and there’s nothing racist in it whatsoever.

“She’s proud of her Indian roots just as Biden’s proud to say he’s Irish.”

He justified his previous tweet about Varadkar by saying “I didn’t know his name at the time” but, asked if he would delete his latest message now he knows Harris’s name, he said: “No, not indeed. Because she’s proud of her Indian background.”

The 82-year-old peer said that he did not try to find out her name online before writing the tweet.

Asked why he did not use a search engine before sending the message, he replied: “That’s not your concern.”

Jon Wolfsthal, a former adviser to Biden, tweeted Lord Kilclooney to say “you should be ashamed of yourself”.

In 2018, Lord Kilclooney tweeted “typical Indian” in response to a message about criticism of Varadkar, whose father is from India, during a visit to Northern Ireland.