Below is the correspondence I had with the Commission for Racial Equality (now incorporated in the Equality and Human Rights Commission (http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/)
after I made a complaint of gross abuse of the English by the one-time Welsh
Language Board chairman John Elfed Jones who wrote in the Welsh affairs magazine Barn in 2001 that the ‘English are like foot and mouth in Wales’. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/aug/08/race.wales) The CRE failed to act on mine and other complaints about this matter.
Elfed Jones is just one example of gross Anglophobia in Welsh people . Take Becca Brown who, also in 2001, made her Anglophobia clear in Barn by stating she hated the English or a well-known Eisteddfod figure Eifion Lloyd Jones who warned school headmasters about admitting non-Welsh speakers, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1512096.stm).
In all cases the police did not rush to investigate or the CRE to condemn. Compare that with the avidity with which politicians and the media pursued the TV presenter Anne Robinson after she made a joke about the Welsh on her show The Weakest Link. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1205551.stm).
What happened to these people after the story faded? Were they cast into the outer darkness as racists by the politically correct elite? Don’t be silly. Theirs is the “right” sort of racism, that is, the type approved of by the politically correct. Elfed Jones is retired but rests comfortably in Debretts (http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/j/825/John+Elfed.aspx),
Brown continues with her media work and the writing of novels (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/adloniant/llyfrau/awdur/beca-brown.shtml)
and Eifion Lloyd Jones is a Plaid Cymru
candidate (http://www.english.plaidcymru.org/eifion-lloyd-jones/). One rule for the English and another for all the groups protected by political correctness: ethnic minorities, gays and women.
Here is my correspondence with the CRE:
9 August 2001
Mr Gurbux Singh
Chairman
The Commission for Racial Equality
Elliott House
10/12 Allington Street
London SW1E SEH
(Tel: 0207/828/7022)
cc All national newspapers
Gerald Howarth MP
Dear Mr Singh,
Complaint of incitement to racial hatred
I enclose a copy of a cutting from the Daily Telegraph dated 8/8/01 and headed ‘English are like foot and mouth in Wales’. This complaint concerns the unambiguously racist
remarks of John Elfed Jones who claimed in the Welsh language magazine, Barn, that English migrants to Wales were a disease.
This is the type of language used by the Nazis. The Welsh First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, described Mr Jones remarks as “…insane language to use. It’s absolutely inflammatory”.
Mr Jones is man of some public standing in Wales. He is a former chief of HTV and Welsh Water, has held office in the Welsh Language Society and was involved in the creation of the Welsh Assembly. He is a member of Plaid Cwmru. Thus, his remarks have public significance. Not only that, but they were made by Mr Jones in the full knowledge that previously violence has been used against English incomers and their
property and that feelings on the subject run high amongst the Welsh in certain parts of Wales. Hence, there is every reason for believing that the incitement will not fall on deaf ears.
I ask you to condemn Mr Jones’ racist remarks publicly in the strongest possible
terms and to make a complaint to the police against Mr Jones of gross incitement
to racial hatred against the English.
In your reply to this letter, please explain why the CRE did not act immediately to condemn the remarks as soon as the story broke.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Henderson
———————————————————-
COMMISSION FOR RACIAL EQUALITY COMISIWN CYDRADDOLDEB HILIOL
OFFICE IN WALES SWYDDFA YNG NGHYMRU
CAPITAL TOWER (14th FLOOR) TWR Y ODINAS (14eg LLAWR)
GREYFRIARS ROAD FFORDD Y BRODYR LLWYDION
CARDIFF CF10 3AG CAERDYDD CF10 3AG
TEL: 029 2072 9200 FFON: 029 2072 9200
FAX: 029 2072 9220 FFACS: 029 2072 9220
10th September 2001
Dear Mr Henderson
Thank you for your letter to Gurbux Singh, the Chair of the Commission for Racial
Equality, dated 9th August, in which you kindly enclosed a copy of a cutting from
the Daily Telegraph about comments made by John Elfed Jones. Please accept
my apologies for the delay in replying to your letter, but we are understaffed in the Cardiff office at present – a situation which should be rectified by Christmas.
Although the remarks made by John Elfed Jones were inflammatory and unwarranted, we did not act immediately to condemn the remarks since comments such as these fall
out of the scope of our jurisdiction (the Race Relations Act). However, I believe the universal condemnation by all those involved in Welsh matters was a message to
Mr Elfed Jones that such language was unhelpful in dealing with important issues, such as the survival of the Welsh language and culture, which is a matter of
concern for all citizens in Wales. Indeed, the National Assembly and the Welsh language
Board made the necessary representation to Mr Elfed Jones to temper his contribution
to the debate in a more constructive way, and he has since apologised for
using the “foot and mouth disease” as a metaphor – a sentiment which was welcomed
by CRE Wales.
Recent weeks have witnessed a sharp increase in the number of media reports
surrounding comments made by high-profile individuals about the survival of the
Welsh language in rural parts of Wales, most recently by the journalist Beca Brown. While we fully sympathise with the problems of local people, and would welcome fair proposals to strengthen the use of the Welsh language in these areas, the inflammatory language used, on occasion, was unhelpful in developing a constructive debate about this very important issue. Though these comments, as previously mentioned, did not fall into our jurisdiction we did offer advice to those who expressed real concern. Subsequently, as with any other enquiry or complaint which falls
outside our powers, we directed members of the public who were worried
about these comments to the relevant appropriate bodies, such as the Press Complaints Commission, political party contacts or the police.
All citizens in Wales are of equal status and that is enshrined in the Government of Wales Act and the Human Rights Act. All make a valuable contribution to the political, economic, and cultural development of Wales. CRE Wales will continue to advocate this sentiment to all those concerned.
I hope this letter goes some way to answering your query.
Yours sincerely
Dr Mashuq Ally
Head of CRE Wales
———————————————————-
14 Sept 2001
Dr Mashuq Ally
Head of CRE Wales
Capital Tower
(14 floor)
Greyfriars Road
Cardiff CF 10 3AG
cc Gerald Howarth MP
Dear Mr Ally,
I have your letter of 10 Sept. You say that Mr Jones’ comments fell outside the scope of your jurisdiction, namely the Race Relations Act. Section 70 of the RRA states:
A person commits an offence if-
(a) he publishes or distributes written matter which is threatening, abusive or insulting;
or
(b) he uses in any public place or at any public meeting words which are threatening, abusive or insulting, in a case where having regard to all the circumstances, hatred is
likely to be stirred up against any racial group in Great Britain by the matter or words in question.
Mr Jones’ comments were clearly of a nature to incite racial hatred against the English. They were threatening, abusive and insulting. They were made in circumstances which are already racially tense. In your letter your accept that they were inflammatory and unwarranted. Please explain to me exactly how they did they not fall within your jurisdiction?
I would also point out that the CRE as a matter of common practice speaks out against racist language and behaviour regardless of its powers in a particular case. Why did you not immediately do so in this instance?
Your early reply please.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Henderson
