Suella Braverman says she recently considered posing as a caller during a radio phone-in to defend herself over accusations of racism.
The home secretary has been dubbed a “Trump tribute act” following her comments on child sexual exploitation.
She pointed to a “predominance of certain ethnic groups” – namely British Pakistani males – as holding “cultural values totally at odds with British values”, saying they “see women in a demeaned and illegitimate way”.
Braverman also reportedly reprimanded Essex Police for sending five officers to seize a collection of dolls which are considered racist from a pub.
Writing in the Spectator magazine, Braverman defended herself and revealed she even thought about calling a radio phone-in to quote her heroine Margaret Thatcher.
“Last week a radio show had a phone-in asking listeners to debate whether I’m a racist,” the MP for Fareham wrote.
“I thought about calling in as Margaret from Fareham, to suggest the home secretary take courage from another Margaret’s words: ‘I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.’”
Braverman goes on to say that in order to address the injustice of the grooming gangs scandal “we must be willing to acknowledge the role that ethnicity played in covering it up”.
She went on: “Casually accusing me of racism for speaking plain truths distorts the meaning of the term, and does a great disservice to all of us working to combat racism.”
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