Tory MP rebuked over ‘crass racial slur’ in Commons

The speaker of the House of Commons rebuked a Conservative MP after he used the word J*** in parliament to refer to the Japanese.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle said the term, which was described by one Labour MP as an “outdated and crass racial slur”, “should not be used”.

The row erupted just days after a Tory minister was criticised for using the phrase “little man” in relation to China.

The comment was made by Mark Francois, a former Armed Forces minister, during questions to the defence secretary Ben Wallace.

Labour’s Sarah Owen attacked the use of “ethnic slurs” and what she told MPs was an “unacceptable undercurrent of othering”.

A Labour source said: "If there was ever any doubt, the nasty party is firmly back.

"While Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party are distracted by scandal after scandal, their MPs are bringing our Parliament into disrepute by using derogatory language in the chamber.

"Mark Francois may need reminding that it is 2022, not 1940. He should apologise for this language.”

Naomi Smith, chief executive of internationalist campaign group, Best for Britain said: “Mark Francois may like to pretend he’s fighting WW2 but there is no excuse for this or the failure of the Defence Secretary to call him out for it.”

On Monday Mr Francois asked Mr Wallace about the Type 26 frigate, which he said was “literally a world-beating design, which we have exported to both Canada and Australia, and we all want to see it in service as soon as possible.”

He added: “So it is doubly disappointing that, last week, the Department issued a written ministerial statement to say her entry into service is now delayed a further year from October 2027 to October 2028 and the lifetime cost to the programme will be over a quarter of a billion pounds more of taxpayers’ money. Given the defence budget is likely to come under great pressure, why does it take BAE Systems 11 years to build a ship the J*** can build in four?”

On Tuesday Ms Owen, who is Asian, said in the chamber of the Commons: “Mr Speaker, you rightly and regularly remind us to use respectful language in this House.

“But unfortunately this outdated and crass racial slur has fallen well below the bar we should expect.”

Sir Lindsay said he recognises “the casual use of racial terms causes upset and should not be used”.

He added: “What I would say is Erskine May states that good temper and moderation are the characteristics of the parliamentary language and ask all members to remind themselves of that principle in choosing the words they use carefully.

“People reflect also the language that we use - if we set the best of language, therefore others might follow.”

Mr Francois later said he did not mean to cause any offence.

In a statement, he said: “I meant absolutely no disrespect or offence to anyone by using the phrase... during defence questions in the House of Commons yesterday.

“I merely used it as an abbreviation for Japanese as I had, by then, been asking an admittedly rather wordy question, about naval shipbuilding.

“Moreover, in the course of that same question, as the record clearly shows, I actually complimented the Japanese shipbuilding industry for building warships much faster than here in Britain.”