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A Britain We All Call Home > Published by Will Straw, October 9th 2009 at 4:23 pm

UKIP’s Godfrey Bloom admits to saying “Paki”

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Godfrey Bloom MEP (UKIP, Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire) today defended the use of the term “Paki” and called on those offended by the term to “lighten up.”

They Sikh him here, they Sikh him there... One wonders whether Godfrey Bloom would have called his fearsome friend here a "Paki"While discussing the fallout of Anton Du Beke’s use of the offensive term on the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio Two – presented today by Richard Bacon – Bloom refused to acknowledge the word’s racist connotation and likened it to referring to someone from Birmingham as a “Brummie.” Bloom even went so far as admitting to using the racial slur.

Richard Bacon: “Godfrey, do you or have you used the word ‘Paki’?”

Godfrey Bloom: “Yes I have. I’m not quite sure what all the fuss is about. I think if you came from Hindustan, you’d be a Hindu; Afghanistan, you’d been an Afghan; Kurdistan, you’d be a Kurd.

“If you come from Pakistan, it’s shortened for Paki in the same way that we’re called Brits, Poms, or whatever…”

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: “You can always say Pakistan. Paki is a word of abuse. It’s not funny.”

Anton Du Beke referred to his dancing partner, Laila Rouass, as a “Paki.” Rouass is of Indian and Moroccan descent. Strictly Come Dancing presenter Bruce Forsyth was drawn into the row saying that people should “get a sense of humour.”

Forsyth has since clarified his remarks saying,

“To be absolutely clear, the use of racially offensive language is never either funny or acceptable.”

Listen to Bacon’s interview with Bloom and Ms Alibhai-Brown below and download it here:

  • http://twitter.com/gabrielmilland/status/4740362801 Gabriel Milland

    Godfrey Bloom = Tosser http://bit.ly/190Dt9

  • Rory

    I find Mr Bloom’s comments unpleasant and not very intelligent, but I find the tone of this article hysterical, which I think is dangerous because the inevitable result is censorship. We have already seen the kind of self-censorship that leads the Guardian to use the term ‘N-word’ rather than ‘Nigger’.

    He said he had used the word ‘Paki’ before, but who has not? It depends on the context.

    The word has been used satirically, for example in Peep Show, Ali G and, I believe, Monty Python.

    Obviously people who use these words as terms of abuse should be condemned, but we should keep a sense of perspective and avoid hysteria.

  • http://northernheckler.wordpress.com Nils Boray

    I’m rarely surprised by anything UKIP come out with, so I won’t feign shock.

    Think he misses several points here – the most glaringly obvious is that Laila Rouass is NOT a Pakistani.

    I don’t take exception to being called a Brit because I’m in a majority in my own affluent relatively unthreatened country. It might be a different matter if I were the only poor British kid in say a Chinese high school who was being picked on. But I’m not.

    It’s all down to the context and relative power systems. The word Nigger for example is used to positive political effect by many black people. Notably Arrested Development’s re-worked Sly Stone song “People Everyday” which talks of “the story y’all of a black man acting like a nigga and get stomped by an African”.

    Muhammed Ali is also reputed to refer to Joe Frazier as “The Nigger” – but often reported as saying “Uncle Tom” instead.

    I’ve never heard ‘Paki’ used that way though – it’s a hateful term used generically for Asians and anyone with a dark skin.

  • Cliff

    OK so we don’t (and shouldn’t) routinely use this type of personal ‘address’ these days because nobody from the human race deserves to be subjugated, but, for fuck’s sake, it isn’t the greatest ‘crime’ ever committed is it? I wish people would grow-up and get things into perspective. Words cannot hurt you. REPEAT (for the hard-of-thinking): WORDS CANNOT HURT YOU!! Stop trying to deny a platform to those you oppose. Allow all opinions, however odious, to be expressed. I hate racism, but I regurlarly cringe when I read contributions from people who beleive themselves to be intelligent, who would happily shut-down all debate. How the hell do you think totalitarianism begins? The politics of ‘no-platform’ are as morally bankrupt as hate itself.

  • http://twitter.com/jeppeengell/status/7368213356617728 Jeppe Engell
  • http://twitter.com/britishroses1/status/166582712038211584 BevR

    .@PSBook reports on UKIP’s Godfrey “ http://t.co/sa8tmS8j ” Bloom making a speech on a ‘booze & drugs’ cocktail: http://t.co/sK9UJl5I #BotW