Zarah Sultana sent abusive email which claims blackface is 'British tradition'

11 November 2021, 16:41 | Updated: 11 November 2021, 17:51

Labour MP Zarah Sultana says she was told to "go back to your country" in a vicious email received as she returned from her bereavement leave.

The Coventry South MP said "Muslim women in politics shouldn't have to tolerate this" as she tweeted a screenshot of the message.

In an email, she is told by the sender "you are in MY country, NOT yours, you do not belong here".

It says it is "tough" that blackface would "bother" the politician, claiming it is "one of OUR traditions".

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The email says "Britain First rising, we will soon get our (sic) heritage back and tough if you don’t like it", and claims Labour lost "thousands" of voters over Brexit, with "immigrants the biggest reason".

In response, Ms Sultana said: "Having spent a couple of days away on bereavement leave, I came back to my emails today.

"This is what I found. Muslim women in politics shouldn't have to tolerate this."

The Metropolitan Police tweeted Ms Sultana asking for her to get in touch.

Twitter users questioned how blackface was a "British tradition", while fellow Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said: "Solidarity with Zarah, who continues to face unrelenting Islamophobia, racism and misogyny.

"We should all be deeply worried by the abusive & threatening behaviour we're currently seeing towards young Muslim women MPs, especially during #IslamophobiaAwarenessMonth."