Rod Liddle slammed by Sajid Javid for column suggesting poll day when Muslims can't vote

Mr Javid has voiced his outrage at the article which suggested disenfranchising Muslims
PA/AFP
Bronwen Weatherby1 November 2019
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Chancellor Sajid Javid has condemned Spectator columnist Rod Liddle after he suggested holding elections at a time when Muslims are unable to vote.

In an article headlined "If you do one thing this election, stop your kids voting", Mr Liddle wrote: "My own choice of election date would be a day when universities are closed and Muslims are forbidden to do anything on pain of hell, or something.

"There must be at least one day like that in the Muslim calendar, surely? That would deliver at least 40 seats to the Tories, I reckon."

Mr Javid, who is of Muslim heritage, slammed Mr Liddle's comments, saying they were "not funny and not acceptable".

Rod Liddle is facing a backlash for his comments
Rex

"Not clear if the Rod Liddle comment is supposed to be a joke - but it's not funny and not acceptable," he tweeted. "No community in our country should be put down that way."

The Spectator's assistant editor Isabel Hardman also said she "profoundly disagrees" with Mr Liddle's piece and was "hugely upset" by it, adding she has "nothing to do" with pieces in the magazine except those she writes herself.

Another section in the column appeared to mock Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who last month spoke out about a previous abusive relationship she had while discussing the Domestic Abuse Bill.

Mr Liddle described Ms Duffield as "the sobbing and oppressed Rosie '#MeToo' Duffield".

In response Ms Hardman said: "I know personally how strong and brave survivors of domestic abuse are and Rosie Duffield is one of the finest among us."

Following the article's publication, Labour MP Liam Byrne has written a letter to the BBC asking it to ensure Mr Liddle and Spectator editor Fraser Nelson are never invited to speak on their programmes again.

"Rod Liddle's disgusting suggestion to disenfranchise Muslim voters is the epitome of Islamophobia - the BBC cannot continue to invite him, or the man responsible for the article's publication, on their programming," Mr Byrne tweeted.

Tory David Lidington, who was Theresa May's de facto deputy prime minister, said he was shocked the Spectator published the story, calling it a "serious lapse of judgement".

"Mr Liddle's foul comment isn't just some bad joke to be dismissed," he tweeted.

"What's he saying to British Muslims in our armed forces, police, NHS, schools, factories etc etc? #disgusting."

Responding to his critics Mr Liddle wrote in a blog on the Spectator website on Friday afternoon, claiming his words had been taken "out of context".

"There was no hate speech or Islamophobia whatsoever in my piece," he wrote.

"It was a very light-hearted series of suggestions about when to hold an election, based upon the silly dispute over the proposed dates for the election.

"They were very obviously ludicrous suggestions, satirical in manner, about how to reduce the Labour vote by targeting groups which traditionally vote Labour and occasioned by the wrangling over whether the election should be on December 9 or 12 and the reasons for that wrangling."

A Muslim Council of Britain spokesperson said: "Mr Liddle’s hate is not new and is in fact the usual bigotry that Muslims have become accustomed to. Here he calls for the discrimination against Muslims and a denial of their democratic rights, particularly when the far-right are on the rise.

"Outlets such as the Spectator regularly give racists a platform to share their anti-Muslim propaganda and feed into far right narratives that thrive on Islamophobia. The publishers and editors cannot be given a free pass. They must be held to account."

Spectator editor Fraser Nelson said: "If one of our columnists seriously suggested that Muslims and students should be prevented from voting, then of course I would denounce it. It would be a disgusting thing to say.

"But Rod Liddle wasn’t doing that. He was satirising the wrangle over the two election dates by making deliberately absurd suggestions.

"At the Spectator, we have writers who disagree passionately with each other: they often make jokes. But this one was too easily misrepresented and should not have been published in the form that it was."

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