This is a guest post by Denry
Labour MP Paul Flynn has received plaudits over the way he brought a debate to Parliament on whether to press for Donald Trump’s exclusion from the UK following the presidential candidate’s call to ban Muslims from entering America – see here.
There is an irony in Flynn drawing attention to a man criticised for seeking to discriminate against people based on their heritage.
It is something Flynn himself has done. A few years ago he said the choice of a British ambassador was not appropriate because of genealogy. The position, he said, required someone with “roots in the UK“.
What was the basis for his concern; someone with Catholic antecedents being sent to the Vatican, the Duke of Norfolk perhaps? Someone whose great-grandparents came from Pakistan being sent to Saudi Arabia? A Hugenot descendant going to France?
It was about Matthew Gould’s appointment to the British Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Click here, here, or here for news reports about Flynn’s comments.
