Tory MP Michael Fabricant has been accused of racism after tweeting a photoshopped image of a pig balloon having sex with Sadiq Khan.

‘Well, what can I say,’ he tweeted alongside the caption: ‘Trump defeats Sadiq Khan in balloon wars.’

It comes after Mr Fabricant criticised the decision to fly a ‘Trump Baby blimp’ above Parliament Square in protest at the US president’s visit to the UK.

After intense criticism of the ill-judged tweet, he removed it claiming he had not realised what it depicted.


‘I did not see the detail on my small iPhone,’ he claimed. ‘I stupidly tweeted it in a meeting without checking it properly and hadn’t spotted there was a face on it.

He posted this tweet (Picture: Michael Fabricant/Twitter)

‘I am genuinely sorry if it caused anyone offence and I am disappointed in the person who sent it to me in the first place.’



Eating pork is forbidden in Islam so to depict London’s Muslim mayor in this way is clearly extremely offensive.

‘The picture is vile,’ Mr Fabricant later said. ‘As soon as I saw what it was, I deleted it.

‘I’m liberal and not anybody-phobic. I had been on TV saying that I thought the blimp was hypocritical and when someone sent me the pic on my iPhone I thought it was a flying pig humping the Trump blimp.’

This is abhorrent. Tory members, the former chair of the party @SayeedaWarsi , and the @MuslimCouncil have all called for an inquiry into Islamaphobia. If @BrandonLewis respect pledge means anything, Michael Fabricant must be suspended immediately. https://t.co/x0fxwnfH3g — Afzal Khan MP (@Afzal4Gorton) July 12, 2018

Tory politician Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim woman to serve in the cabinet, said his tweet illustrated Islamophobia within the Tory party.

‘There will be an inquiry – it’s only a question of time,’ she said. ‘The problem in my party is too widespread for there not to be.

‘The question is how much damage we will do to our reputation in the meantime as we drag our feet.’

Wes Streeting MP said he had written to the Government Chief Whip asking for action to be taken.

I’ve written to the Government Chief Whip to ask that action is taken against Michael Fabricant over his grossly offensive, highly inappropriate and racist tweet. I’m sick of the Mayor’s religion being used as a punchline and punchbag by racists and bigots. MPs should know better pic.twitter.com/2YutgvHvmK — Wes Streeting MP ??????? (@wesstreeting) July 13, 2018

‘I’m sick of the Mayor’s religion being used as a punchline and punchbag by racists and bigots,’ he said. ‘MPs should know better.’

Afzal Khan MP called for Mr Fabricant to be suspended immediately over the ‘abhorrent’ tweet.

Mr Fabricant insisted it had bee tweeted accidentally, saying he had removed it within minutes and that he would apologise to Sadiq Khan.

This morning, it also emerged that Mr Fabricant had a flag from apartheid-era South Africa on his mantelpiece.

He defended this too, saying: ‘Also on the same mantelpiece is an old communist USSR flag. They are from some of the countries where I had work visits in the 1980s.’

Also on the same mantelpiece is an old communist USSR flag. They are from some of the countries where I had work visits in the 1980s. https://t.co/2oeAqabvvI — Michael Fabricant (@Mike_Fabricant) July 13, 2018

Metro.co.uk has contacted the Tory party for comment.

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