UK Home Secretary recounts experiences of racism

The UK Home Secretary Priti Patel rejected claims made by the opposition on Monday that the British government had ignored racial discrimination by describing her own personal experiences of racial and religious prejudice. During an exchange in the Commons, Patel, Britain's first Home Secretary of Indian origin, recounted experiences at school in which she had been referred to as a 'Paki.' She also referenced a recent cartoon in British newspaper The Guardian which characterised her as a bull with a ring through its nose.

Patel had been responding to Labour MP Flo Eshalomi, who asked if the government understood the anger that led to the destruction of the statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston, which was pulled down by protesters in Bristol on Sunday. "I will not take lectures from the other side of the House. I have already said repeatedly there is no place for racism in our country or in society," said Patel. The pulling down of the 18-foot (5.5 meter) bronze statue during a Black Lives Matter protest on Sunday has sparked a debate in Britain about racism, history and memory.