Home Secretary Accused of Parroting Far Right Tropes About British Pakistanis

One of the things learned from 1930s Europe is that fascism builds its support by targeting minorities and creating scapegoats to deflect from what is actually happening politically. And this government displays all the hallmarks of that fascism.

The Home Office's report in 2020 on grooming gangs found no credible evidence that Pakistani men are the mainstay of grooming gangs. This started as a far right trope and has entered the main stream. Home Office research has found that group-based offenders are most commonly White men under the age of 30. 

That doesn't fit the narrative of the Home Secretary's divisive and dangerously inflammatory far right rhetoric. She is openly parroting far-right myths about racial groups and amplifying them into national trends.

Sadly, this Home Secretary appears to be on a mission to cause as much offence as possible to those of immigrant stock and to appease her far-right voter base. Yet the irony is that the far right doesn’t want brown or black immigrants, their children, or her in this country or positions of power.

Her remarks are grossly offensive to hundreds of thousands of peaceful, law-abiding British Pakistanis. The newly appointed First Minister of Scotland happens to be of British Pakistani descent. Yet she displays all the tact of a bull in a china shop. Her comments are tantamount to inciting racist violence, a criminal offence.  Parliament must reign in this government minister who openly tells mistruths in direct contradiction to her own Department’s research. 

Sadly, this Home Secretary appears to be on a mission to cause as much offence as possible to those of immigrant stock and to appease her far-right voter base. Yet the irony for Braverman is that the far right doesn’t want brown or black immigrants, their children, or her in this country or positions of power.

Robina Qureshi