The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Barry Sheerman's "small English rant"

Why does a Labour MP think it is in the interests of his constituents to attack eastern Europeans?

By Daniel Trilling Published 26 April 2012 14:42

A bacon sandwich. Ethnic origin of the pig could not be confirmed at time of going to press. (Getty Images.)

We've all been there: late for a train, starving, and so you're forced to buy some over-priced slop from a sandwich chain on the station forecourt. You're in a hurry, and so is the hard-pressed, minimum-waged shop assistant.

In the muddle that follows, they mess up your order. Annoying, yes – but for Huddersfield's Labour MP, Barry Sheerman, this was a chance to take aim at foreigners. On 23 April, he tweeted:

"Just had worst coffee and bacon bap in London at Victoria Station. Why can't Camden Food Co employ English staff?"

When asked by one of his Twitter followers if he was being xenophobic about the "eastern European" woman who served him, Mr Sheerman – who once explained his opposition to a ban on fox-hunting “because I don't like the persecution of minorities” – replied:

"We are all allowed a small English rant on St George's day aren't we?"

Followed by:

"I am not a xenophobe. I am an MP and I represent the good folk of Huddersfield not Gdansk!"

Mr Sheerman later told the Huddersfield Examiner that unemployed people in his constituency should have "first crack" at jobs "rather than someone who has arrived from eastern Europe yesterday" and that "high levels" of immigration also "put pressure on housing, hospitals and our schools".

Yet if Mr Sheerman really was motivated by concern for his hard-working Huddersfield constituents, perhaps he can explain why it was in their interests to:

Grandstand on “foreign” competition for jobs when we are in the middle of a crisis caused by the banks and made worse by the coalition's failed economic policies?

Spend 13 years supporting a New Labour government committed to a “flexible” labour market with some of the harshest anti-union laws in Europe, under which inequality of income rose, and where some argue that the free movement of labour was used as a “21st-century incomes policy”?

Vote for an Iraq war that precipitated a major refugee crisis?

Vote for anti-terrorism measures that have treated British Muslims as a problem community and a potential “enemy within”?

Acquiesce to the removal of compulsory language GCSEs, making it harder for British workers to compete in the international jobs market and increasing the hostility mono-lingual English speakers feel when they hear foreign languages spoken in public?

Choose St George's Day to have an “English rant” when some of his Labour colleagues are trying to “de-toxify” English nationalism, and when Kirklees, the borough in which his constituency is located, is only just free of BNP candidates for the first time in 12 years?

Mr Sheerman is absolutely right that we should be able to talk about difficult issues without fear of “pernicious political correctness”. Perhaps he can start with the above. I'm sure his constituents – including the ones for whom English is not a first language, or whose families originate overseas – would love to know.

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Tags: Immigration Labour Unemployment

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16 comments

Fri, 2012-06-29 02:17 — Elias Earle (not verified)

Deborah Glass, the IPCC�s Deputy Chair, has said the law simply stops her from doing her job. As David Lammy told Radio 4 last night, the Home Secretary doesn�t like it اخر اخبار مصر

Wed, 2012-05-02 20:45 — Margaret Georgiadou (not verified)

When I ask for something in a shop in England, I dont expect to have to be able to speak, Serbian/Polish/Rumanian/etc etc in order to find what I want.....is all. Please stop going over the top with all this anti-racist hyperbole

Wed, 2012-05-02 20:45 — Margaret Georgiadou (not verified)

Wed, 2012-05-02 20:44 — Margaret Georgiadou (not verified)

Sat, 2012-04-28 12:17 — rain (not verified)

A small English rant may soon become a large English riot: few Englishmen trust Labour with our border,s even fewer trust Labour with our economy. Labour's continued pampering to the immigrant vote will cost Labour any future political life in a Newly Independent England.

Fri, 2012-04-27 12:06 — bacon buttie lover (not verified)

people should appreciate the importance of good bacon butties ,nothing worse than a flabby piece of bacon in soggy bread ,only a good old fashioned greasy spoon cafe can provide the real thing

Fri, 2012-04-27 12:06 — bacon buttie lover (not verified)

people should appreciate the importance of good bacon butties ,nothing worse than a flabby piece of bacon in soggy bread ,only a good old fashioned greasy spoon cafe can provide the real thing

Fri, 2012-04-27 08:22 — The Ronald (not verified)

Great article, more like this please.

I was very disappointed to see on Question Time last night that only one person on the panel, Simon Hughes, challenge Nigel Farage's predictable Eastern Europeans rant.
Even then Hughes quickly lost his enthusiasm when the technical details (facts?) were required.
It took a member of the audience to correct Farage's comment, which itself was nothing more than an anecdote about two people he spoke to, whom he does not verifya the position or names of. (were they two people he spoke to down the pub?)

The likes of Barry Sheerman should be challenged whenever possible, to stop subjective and needlessly damaging comments like the above, not least because he represents thousands of people, who probably don't want him wasting his time with rants about a sandwich.

Fri, 2012-04-27 06:49 — Stuart Eels (not verified)

Never heard of Sheerman before this rant, it's a pity that he can't get worked up about the real things in life rather than a bloody sandwich!

Thu, 2012-04-26 22:08 — hugh markey (not verified)

As somebody once said, history is just one ******* thing after another.
The Roman Republic was just a cosy tribal set-up, apart from the constant competition between the Republic's patricians and proles, and the less well-off amongst the Republic's population had a very strong prejudice against letting other Latins share their benefits.
Of course, all Roman politicians knew this and as they wanted to win elections so they feigned agreement.
Julius Caesar dedicated to the purity of the Roman people was the first big name to infiltrate non-Romans, let alone Latins, into his legions and it went on from there with Augustus and every succeeding emperor surreptitiously allowing non-Romans entry to Europe's greatest empire.
Naturally, the Senators and the elite had to mask this state of affairs and hit upon the wheeze of awarding the dispossessed Roman citizens with bread and circuses.
Of course, a slightly different wrinkle was used when the Europeans went far afield. Naked force!
Native Americans, the peoples of South America,
( Spanish coined, we Know ), Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and all points north, were subdued by force of arms.
Europeans were everywhere: Indonesia, Indo-China, India, China, the North African littoral. The Americans chastised the Philippines and kept Latin America under wraps.
Those peoples of Eastern Europe fought Soviet Communism for almost half-a-century and we begrudge their coming to the Mother of Democracy for sustenance.
It's a fact of life. It's called demography. Now it's our turn. What comes around...

Thu, 2012-04-26 19:25 — McMac

That list of whataboutery doesn't address the competition in the jobs Market from hundreds of thousands of immigrants during a time of high unemployment. Still it's not all bad is it Daniel, keeps wages down for the working classes and nice cheap services for you and me.

Thu, 2012-04-26 17:39 — Flashbuck

You know there must be a real problem with immigration when even a Labour MP says it's too much.

Thu, 2012-04-26 17:15 — Tesco Shelf Stacker (not verified)

He joins a long list of 'Class A' political hypocrites at Westminster - Abbot, Blair, Prescott, Blunkett, Cameron ... the list goes on. So, yet another example of astounding hypocrisy from one of our political class doesn't surprise me at all. Sheerman most probably did fully support Labours open door policy on immigration at each and every level when they were in power for thirteen years...and yet if he had a problem with it then why didn't he do the 'honourable' thing and raise his concerns with Blair/Brown? Silly me ... that would have ended his lucrative ride on the gravy train at Westminster. Probably had no reason to rock the boat back then and every motivation to keep the gravy train rolling no doubt.