Dawn Butler accuses Tory MP of causing 'racist pile-on' after 'mates overseas' comment

Former Labour minister Dawn Butler has accused a senior shadow minister of triggering a "racist pile-on" after he targeted her on X.

During a Commons debate on Black History Month last Thursday, Ms Butler spoke in favour of the UK providing reparations for "stolen labour, stolen wealth, stolen land or stolen opportunity".

Addressing MPs on Monday, she revealed that uploading the speech to social media led to her receiving "thousands of abusive messages".

Conservative MP and shadow minister for policy renewal and development Neil O’Brien had responded on Friday with what she termed a "racially charged tweet".

He wrote: "If you want to tax my constituents more to fund random handouts to your mates overseas then yes, that is ‘stolen wealth’ – their money is not yours, they have done nothing wrong, and you can do one."

Ms Butler said the post "resulted in more abuse against me", asking if ministers "accept that MPs are bound by the code of practice and, at the very least, they shouldn’t be racists online".

She added: “This resulted in a racist pile-on, and I’m troubled and concerned by the phrase ‘your mates overseas’ as well.

“What exactly does the member mean? I’m deeply concerned by this.

“It’s not about reparations debate, I can handle people disagreeing with that, but the code of conduct states that members are required to treat others with respect, and I’ve emailed the member to ask for an explanation, but none was given.”

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle urged MPs to “think about the language and the words that we choose”.

He said: “Can I just say, debate is very important in this House, but how we treat each other matters.

“We should think about the language and the words that we choose, because in the end, what worries me is how we treat each other in here is then replicated, which has just been shown in the number of tweets that followed.

“So please, what I would say, it has been raised, and I’m sure that everybody can learn from what’s happened.

“And I just hope that we consider what we say to each other, and what tone we use it within.”

Responding to safety concerns, security minister Dan Jarvis said: “Let me give my honourable friend an absolute assurance of how seriously we take these matters.

“The Defending Democracy Task Force provides the focal point for us to respond to these threats across government, and I know that she will have heard and welcomed the Protective Security Review that the Home Secretary announced a week ago.”

Mr O’Neill later responded with another post on X, saying: “I asked Labour MP Dawn Butler why she’s demanding my constituents pay more tax to fund ‘reparations’.

“She wouldn’t answer, but called me a ‘racist’ in the Commons.

“It’s not right to make people pay ‘reparations’ when they’ve done nothing wrong.