The Britain First campaign to have the Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott investigated and prosecuted for racism has had a phenomenal response, with over 37,495 signatures so far gained in support of the campaign.

Diane Abbott has a horrendous track record for uttering the most vile statements against white people during her parliamentary career.

Some of these statements are listed in the Britain First campaign here: https://www.britainfirst.org/investigate-diane-abbott-for-racism

We have not only called for her to be sacked, but also to be referred to the Police and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, given her long and unsavoury association with the Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn, she has so far escaped the ignominy of being unceremoniously booted out of her position as Shadow Home Secretary, a post that she is evidently unfit to hold.

However, suspecting that Jeremy Corbyn would not refer her to the Equality and Human Rights Commission of his own free will, we also wrote directly to each of the Commissioners, requesting that she be investigated for racism and detailing the evidence gleaned from the public domain over 20 years.

We must have struck a nerve, because this week we received a reply from the Head of Stakeholder Engagement at the Commission:

Dear Mr Burton,

Thank you for your email of 1 November 2019 regarding a petition calling for the investigation and prosecution of Diane Abbott MP.

As you are no doubt aware, the Equality and Human Rights Commission is Great Britain’s national equality body, established by the Equality Act 2006. That Act provides us with a set of specific and unique powers to enable us to challenge discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and protect human rights. Those powers do not include the power to prosecute an individual or an organisation. If you believe that a criminal offence has been committed, the correct authority to deal with such a matter would be the police.

We can carry out an investigation under S20 of the Act to discover whether a person or organisation may have carried out or is carrying out an act, which is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010. An unlawful act may have been committed only if there is evidence that a person or individual has discriminated against, harassed or victimised another person or people based on their protected characteristic:

Discrimination means treating one person worse than another because of a protected characteristic (known as direct discrimination) or putting in place a rule or policy or way of doing things that has a worse impact on someone with a protected characteristic than someone without one, when this cannot be objectively justified (known as indirect discrimination).

Harassment includes unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect, or violating someone’s dignity or which creates a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for someone with a protected characteristic.

Victimisation is treating someone unfavourably because they have taken (or might be taking) action under the Equality Act or supporting somebody who is doing so.

The information you have supplied does not accordingly constitute evidence of an unlawful act under the Equality Act 2010. The Commission is therefore unable to take any action with regard to your complaint.

I appreciate that this response may be disappointing for you. I hope it clarifies the position and powers of the Commission and in that regard I would also like to draw your attention to our guidance on Freedom of Expression, which you might find helpful.

Yours sincerely, etc.,

What this tells us is that the Equality and Human Rights Commission is a toothless tiger.

It is one thing to acknowledge that they do not have powers to prosecute Diane Abbott for her discriminatory statements, and they quite rightly advise contacting the police concerning matters of criminality, but they absolutely refuse to acknowledge that Diane Abbott's vile behaviour constitutes the creation of a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for someone with a protected racial characteristic - i.e. white people.

So it would appear that there is one rule for the racist Diane Abbott, and another rule for the rest of us.

But when such an enormous number of people - 37,495 and rising - register their disgust with the behaviour of such a public figure, and no action is taken by the authorities who are entrusted with our protection, it can only be a matter of time before a majority of the people conclude that the system is unfit for purpose, and take action accordingly.

Tim Burton
Campaigns Officer