Mel Stride ducks question in row over Tory peer’s ‘racist’ tweet about footballers
Speaking on Sunday with Lewis Goodall, Mel Stride MP was quizzed about a tweet about French and Senegalese players posted by a Tory Lord
Mel Stride MP has avoided answering whether a tweet posted by a Tory peer about French and Senegalese football players was "racist" or not on LBC.
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Speaking on Sunday with Lewis Goodall, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer was quizzed on the tweet which was posted on Tuesday by Daniel Hannan as France played Senegal in the World Cup.
The tweet reads: "A French friend phones. I tell him I’m surprised that he is not watching the France-Sénégal match. He makes a peculiarly Gallic noise that I can describe only as a vocal shrug. 'The legal immigrants are playing the illegal immigrants.'
Elevated to House of Lords in 2021, Lord Hannan of Kingsclere is a former MEP and one of the key founders of Vote Leave.
Lewis asked Stride as he read out the full tweet: "You talk about the toxicity in politics and the need to be a good Centre Right party. Do you think tweets like these from one of your own peers is particularly toxic?”
'It's a racist tweet, let's be honest.'
— LBC (@LBC) June 21, 2026
@Lewis_Goodall puts Tory peer Daniel Hannan's comments on France and Senegal's footballers to Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride. pic.twitter.com/eKcfkpj7oX
The MP for Central Devon replied saying: “Look I don’t know the context to that.”
Lewis interrupted him saying “There is no context. That is the tweet.”
Stride came back with: "Well as I say I haven’t seen it I don’t know the context to that so-“
Unimpressed with his answer, Lewis jumped in adding: "What context could there possibly be? He’s suggesting that all the French players are legal immigrants and the Senegalese players are illegal immigrants.”
A French friend phones. I tell him I’m surprised that he is not watching the France-Sénégal match. He makes a peculiarly Gallic noise that I can describe only as a vocal shrug. “The legal immigrants are playing the illegal immigrants.”
— Daniel Hannan (@DanielJHannan) June 16, 2026
Stride responded: “Right. Okay well look as I say I dont’ know the full context to that, and I’m not getting drawn into specific tweets on anything.
Lewis pointed out that Hannan is a Conservative peer.
Stride ignored this and said: "What we’ve got to do, what we’ve got to do Lewis, is to as a party, continue to be the grown ups in the room in a world in which labour are palpably destorying our country and our economy."
“It’s a racist tweet, isn’t it? It’s a racist tweet. Let’s be honest,” Lewis continued.
Stride concluded with: “Look I’m not going to get drawn into all of that."
