Labour MP calls black parliamentary candidate ‘token ghetto boy’ A Labour MP described a black Conservative parliamentary candidate as a “token ghetto boy” who was being used by the […]

A Labour MP described a black Conservative parliamentary candidate as a “token ghetto boy” who was being used by the party’s leaders.

Emma Dent Coad, who narrowly won the Kensington seat in June’s general election, made the comments about Shaun Bailey in a personal blog back in 2010.

Mr Bailey, a former adviser to David Cameron, was standing for election in Hammersmith when Ms Dent-Coad criticised him for trying to “fit in” with the Conservatives.

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Never fit in

The Labour MP also suggested Mr Bailey, who was at the time a resident in Kensington and Chelsea, would not be welcome in his local area should he fail to be elected to Parliament.

In her blog, Ms Dent-Coad attacked Mr Bailey for reportedly taking riding lessons so he would be able to “go fox hunting in the shires”.

“Who can say where this man will ever fit in, however hard he tries?” she wrote. “One day he is the ‘token ghetto boy’ standing behind [David] Cameron, the next ‘looking interested’ beside [George] Osborne. Ever felt used?”

And she added: “Two things are certain. One is that his current posse of public school buddies will drop him like a hot potato if he doesn’t get elected. The other is that he will no longer be welcome in North Kensington if he does.

“Nostalgie de la boue. No going back now.”

‘Most hated man’

According to the political website Guido Fawkes, which unearthed the blogpost, Ms Dent Coad also quoted unnamed “former neighbours” who described him as “a free-loading scumbag” and “the most hated man in North Kensington”.

Mr Bailey eventually lost the seat to Labour’s Andy Slaughter in the 2010 election.

Ms Dent Coad became the first Labour MP to be elected to Kensington with a majority of just 20.

In a response to the blog post, Mr Bailey told Guido Fawkes that Labour should consider suspending her.

Shocked and saddened

“I am shocked and saddened by the hate-filled, racist article written by Labour MP Emma Dent Coad which has surfaced this afternoon,” he said.

“During my time in politics I have dealt with prejudice and attacks from hard-line groups, including the BNP, but not once have I been labelled a ‘token ghetto boy’.

“She should publicly apologise for these latest slurs – not just to me but to the wider black community – and the Labour Party should consider her position.”

A spokesperson for Ms Dent Coad said: “It is clear from the original blog that Emma was quoting what Bailey himself had said about his neighbourhood, together with comments from Tory colleagues on the council.”