Hate has a habit of surfacing, no matter how hard haters try to hide or disguise it.

In a racially charged outburst Cherie Blair, wife of former Labour prime minister Anthony Blair, claimed that 'most African ladies' first sexual experience is rape' - her clear implication being that most African men are rapists.

Ms Blair's shocking comments came during a talk to schoolchildren at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, London earlier this year.

One horrified pupil said:

No one seemed to react and I was shocked because I felt like she was in a position of authority and should take responsibility for saying things like that without any evidence to support it.

Labour MP Chi Onwurah condemned Blair for 'the insult and injury' of her comments, adding:

Violence against women is a huge problem in many African countries... but to characterise African women's sexual experience as rooted in rape [is] playing to and indeed stoking stereotypes of sexually aggressive African men and passive women.

Cherie Blair's remarks typify the worst kind of left-wing dog-whistle politics.

Like the Victorian wives of colonial Africa, she conflates black masculinity with a propensity to sexual violence, thereby signaling to other racists her fear and loathing of the African 'Other'.

All under a pretext of concern for 'African ladies'.

Coming so soon after the revelations of widespread anti-Semitism in the Labour party, Ms Blair's comments will surely alarm black and minority ethnic members, who must now be wondering: Is any minority safe from Labour's race-hatred?