Owen Smith in “too many immigrants” furore

Questions were being asked about Owen Smith’s consistency as a Facebook post by Areeq Chowdhury detailed a meeting between the East London accountant and the rebel Labour MP who is trying to remove Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party.

In the story, posted on 7th August, Areeq explains:

“Had a chance to speak with Owen Smith today (guy who is trying to replace Corbyn as Labour leader) at an event in Hackney. I said to him that I’m a Corbyn supporter but that I’m open to changing my mind over the next two months, so he asked me why I would vote for Corbyn over him.

“First thing I asked was: ‘Why did you say that there are too many immigrants in parts of the UK?’ He said that he never said that, and went onto to say that immigration has suppressed wages in areas of the country. To which I said: ‘But I swear I thought I saw you say on Newsnight that there are too many immigrants? If not, why did the media report that you said that?’ He replied that there are ‘a thousand memes’ on the Internet of him saying things he didn’t say. Bit of an odd response, maybe he misheard ‘media’ for ‘memes’.

“I then asked him about Trident and said: ‘One of the problems in this country is that we are quite a violent country that is almost at a permanent state of war, and I think we need a genuinely pro-peace leader.’ Then I said: ‘I can’t think of any conceivable problem where the solution is to nuke to death millions of innocent men, women, and children.’ And he said: ‘Nor can I, and I wouldn’t.’ To which I asked: ‘Why did you say that you would use it then on the Andrew Marr show?’ He responded by saying that ‘electorally’, Labour has to be pro-Trident because they look weak on defence, and that you have to be prepared to say that you would use it. I said: ‘But you just said that you wouldn’t use it?’

“I was going to ask another question but got cut short by one of his staff. When I got home I watched the Newsnight clip again and it was as follows:
“Interviewer: ‘Are there too many immigrants in Britain at the moment?’
“Owen Smith: ‘I think it depends where you are.’
“Interviewer: ‘So, yes, in some places?’

“I feel like it was a conversation which concerned me more than it convinced me.”

The exchange will have left Labour members confused over what policies Smith is trying to follow.

ELN has contacted Owen Smith’s campaign and asked him to explain the apparent discrepancy between what he said during this one to one conversation and what he has said on the media.

•Areeq Chowdhury’s account of his meeting with Owen Smith, printed above is on his Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/mister.chowdhury

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