Labour Party MP for Tamworth Sarah Edwards has been caught up in an ongoing storm over comments she made in parliament over a hotel used to house asylum seekers – a hotel that the far-right then attempted to burn down (with people inside) in a racist attack during the race riots.
Sarah Edwards: Reform MP in Labour clothing
Edwards said in parliament on 30 July:
In Tamworth, the Holiday Inn has been used for asylum purposes for years
So, not to house vulnerable human beings, Sarah? Not to provide a safe and warm home to displaced people while the UK assesses their asylum claims? No. For “asylum purposes”. The alleged Labour MP continued:
The simple reality is that residents want their hotel back.
People want their COUNTRY back, Sarah?
Oh, sorry. That’s not what you said. But it did sound quite like it. Anyway, we’re pretty sure Intercontinental Hotels Group, which owns and operates the Holiday Inn Express Tamworth, would question whether it was local resident’s hotel or theres. But of course, corporate capitalism is far more important than human lives:
This is not the first time I have raised in the chamber that residents of Tamworth want their hotel back. I will work closely with the new Government and Home Secretary to end the use of the Holiday Inn for asylum purposes. pic.twitter.com/BxELsOw82U
— Sarah Edwards for Tamworth (@SarahEdwardsTam) July 30, 2024
Many readers will know what happened next.
Attempted murder to ‘take their hotel back’ in Tamworth
As BBC News reported, on Sunday 4 July:
Windows at the hotel were smashed and a series of fires were started using three petrol bombs.
Now, while the BBC may not want to say who smashed the windows and started fires, the Canary is happy to report it was far-right neo-Nazis whose racism and Islamophobia spilled out and ended up in an attempt pogrom; attempted murder if you prefer.
BBC News did say that:
While no-one inside the hotel was reported injured, police said, the lives of occupants had been put at risk.
It took ‘local’ MP Edwards several hours to muster any kind of public statement on the issue:
The scenes in Tamworth tonight of violence are shocking & disgraceful & are still ongoing. Thank you to @StaffsPolice for ensuring the safety of hotel staff & guests. This will not be tolerated in our town. The police officers on the ground have my fullest support.
— Sarah Edwards for Tamworth (@SarahEdwardsTam) August 4, 2024
However, it took until Monday 5 August for her to issue a full statement.
Edwards: snivelling doesn’t cover it
In what is now an accustomed Labour Party manner, Edwards provided a mealy-mouthed response to the attempted racist murders; in fact worse than home secretary Yvette Cooper’s and Keir Starmer’s. Edwards failed to even mention the ‘thugs’ were the far-right, and that it was a racist and likely Islamophobic attack:
Here is my statement following last night’s violent thuggery and criminal disorder in Tamworth. pic.twitter.com/YpdbBvTkqU
— Sarah Edwards for Tamworth (@SarahEdwardsTam) August 5, 2024
Moreover, she failed to acknowledge that her use of inflammatory, right-wing language may have contributed to the situation.
People on X were rightly appalled – including Labour National Executive Committee (NEC) member Mish Rahman:
They have got “their hotel back”
luckily noone was killed in the process
Politicians can incite, here is an example why they need to choose their words carefully https://t.co/GUKeHOQyW6 pic.twitter.com/5zWGjpHNte
— Mish Rahman (@mish_rahman) August 5, 2024
Former England footballer Stan Collymore has been vocal throughout the race riots – not least against Edwards:
Not one word owning your original comments or apologising for them. You know full well that some people in Tamworth would have seen your unnecessary comments as a green light to make that hotel a target. https://t.co/dWX8InntR2
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) August 5, 2024
Others picked her pathetic statement apart:
No apology, no naming of racism, no actual acknowledgement of refugees in the hotel — absolute disgrace https://t.co/GaaMt3WaRH
— Ed (@emcnally96) August 5, 2024
But overall, Edwards knows what she’s doing. By pandering to the far-right originally, and then not even apologising for it, she’s making sure that she doesn’t lose the racist vote in her 95% white constituency of Tamworth.
These snivelling Labour careerists are so self-absorbed and self-interested they would literally say and do anything to cling onto power. And, they won’t even have the decency to apologise when their words betray them.
Featured image via the Canary
