A Reform MP has been branded a ‘disgrace’ for saying it ‘drives her mad’ to see adverts featuring black and Asian people.
Sarah Pochin came under fire for suggesting TV advertising did not represent the ‘average white person’, which she said was the product of the ‘woke liberati inside the arty farty world’.
In response to a question from a caller on Talk TV, Pochin, who represents Runcorn and Helsby, said that while the trend ‘might be fine inside the M25’, it wasn’t representative of northern towns.
She remarked: ‘It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people, full of people that basically are anything other than white.’
The Reform MP later apologised for her words, saying they were ‘poorly phrased’ and that she intended to express the view that the industry had gone ‘DEI mad’.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting labelled Pochin’s comments a ‘disgrace’, while calling out the ‘deafening silence’ from party leader Nigel Farage.
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He told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: ‘She’s only sorry that she’s been caught and called out, and she said the quiet bit loud.’
He continued: ‘Reform is a party who think that our flag only belongs to some of us who look like me, not all of us who have built this country, built its success.’
Streeting suggested her comments came after several months which had seen a ‘return of the 1970s, 80s style racism that I thought we had left in the history books’.
‘The only way we are going to defeat this racism is to call it out and confront it for what it is, and for the decent majority of this country to stand against it, as we have always done’, he said.
In a statement posted to her X account, Pochin said yesterday: ‘My comments were phrased poorly and I apologise for any offence caused, which was not my intention.
‘The point I was trying to make is that the British advertising agency world have gone DEI mad and many adverts are now unrepresentative of British society as a whole.
‘I will endeavour to ensure my language is more accurate going forward.’
Pochin previously caused controversy shortly after winning her seat from Labour in a by-election, when she called on Sir Keir Starmer to ban the burka ‘in the interests of public safety’ at Prime Minister’s Questions.
The same week, Reform’s chairman Zia Yusuf resigned from his post, only to return to the party days later.
Conservative MP Chris Philp stopped short of explicitly criticising Ms Pochin, but said her words were ‘not language I would have used’.
The shadow home secretary refused to be drawn on whether Ms Pochin’s comments were racist, but instead insisted there were ‘legitimate concerns’ about mass migration.
Yusuf said that Pochin was right to apologise but that people should be able to discuss representation in TV advertising.
The Reform chairman told Sky News: ‘I know Sarah very well, I was instrumental in her selection as a candidate, worked very hard to get her elected, and I’m extremely glad that I did.
‘I consider her a close friend and she’s a great MP for Runcorn.
‘She did say those words and she has apologised, saying it was a poorly phrased thing to say, but you’ve got to put that into context.’
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