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A Labour MP once again proved she’s in the wrong party

A shadow cabinet Labour MP who had to apologise for handing out racist leaflets has once more caused a storm on social media. But this time, she fails to see why people have a problem with her tweets.

Shadow women and equalities minister

Charlotte Nichols is Labour’s shadow women and equalities minister. As The Canary previously reported, she caused a storm on the local elections campaign trail. This was because Nichols handed out leaflets about the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community that were described as racist. As The Canary‘s Sophia Purdy-Moore wrote:

The leaflets in question claimed that locally Labour would ‘deal with traveller incursions’. Meaning “sudden” unexpected or unwanted appearances.

Nichols apologised. She claimed she didn’t know what “incursion” meant. But now, she’s once more shown she’s perhaps not quite the ‘Labour’ MP some would hope for.

Grifting

Nichols went to see England play Denmark in the Euros semi-final on Wednesday 7 July. But this was no ordinary visit to a football match. Because she went with Tory MP Mike Wood:

Heineken had invited the MPs. This is because Nichols leads the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on pubs, and Wood the one on beer. People on Twitter we’re not happy. So much so that Nichols had to put out another tweet explaining herself:

There is quite a lot to unpack here. But Twitter helpfully gave it a go.

Corporate bungs

First is the issue of the APPG on pubs’ chair cosying up to Heineken. One Twitter user pointed out the problem:

The company’s pub business, Star Pubs and Bars, was slapped-down by the industry watchdog for “multiple breaches” of regulations. It said Heineken had “intentionally or negligently” failed to sort the issue out. But clearly, the company’s noxious behaviour doesn’t matter to Nichols when there’s a freebie involved.

Also, the story poses bigger questions about the role of lobbying in parliament:

Not that Nichols and her whataboutery noticed:

Throwing the GRT community under the bus

Then, what could be more appropriate as a Labour MP who previously handed out racist, anti-GRT leaflets, and who missed the demo in support of the community, than to enjoy a night out with Priti Patel’s parliamentary private secretary?

Yes, Nichols was schmoozing with a Tory MP who works for the person behind the racist Police Bill. Interestingly, Wood also used the term “incursion” to describe GRT people:

Clearly the GRT community still isn’t at the forefront of Nichols’ mind. Because as well as hanging out with Wood, she also appeared to miss the #Drive2Survive demo in support of them:

But there’s a broader point to be made about Nichols’ behaviour.

Broken politics

As Twitter users said:

Labour MPs being friendly with Tories has been a historical problem. Under the guise of cooperation for the greater good, so-called left-wing politicians have snuggled up in political bed with the right, because we all have to work together – yes?

No, we don’t. It’s this weak (and often ineffective) opposition which has led us to this point. Countless unnecessary deaths from coronavirus (Covid-19); “grave” and “systematic” violations of chronically ill and disabled people’s human rights, and 130,000 deaths from Tory austerity. Our two-cheeks-of-the-same-arse political system is broken.

To politicians like Nichols, being MP is clearly a game of political football. It’s one where you fight against your opponents for a short amount of time. But when the whistle blows, you’re all mates, really.

Featured image via Charlotte Nichols Twitter – screengrab

By Steve Topple

This post was originally published on The Canary.