Senior Tory MP Andrew Rosindell has said Keir Starmer is largely to blame for the renewed row about slavery reparations, because of his appointment of David Lammy to the Foreign Office.
In a furious verbal attack, Mr Rosindell said that Mr Lammy’s previous championing of slavery reparations to former members of the Commonwealth has given the green light to foreign leaders wanting free cash from Britain.
Mr Rosindell argues: “Starmer hand-picked Lammy to represent our country’s interests on the world stage.”
“He must have known that doing so would, given Lammys long-standing support for reparations, prompt demands from other nations to cripple our economy,
“Starmer needs to decide, does he represent the UK’s interests on the world stage, or not?”
In 2018, David Lammy accused the Conservative government of ignoring the debts owed to the descendants of slaves across the world.
In one tweet, he said: “In 1833 Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act.”
“£17bn of compensation to slave owners for the loss of their property – my ancestors. The slaves received no reparations.
“Some people simply do not know their history or do not want to know hard truths.”
In another tweet he said: “As Caribbean people enslaved, colonised and invited to Britain as citizens, we remember our history.”
“We don’t just want an apology, we want reparations and compensation.”
Earlier this month the chairman of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) called on Mr Lammy to have a free hand to deliver compensation to countries involved in the slave trade.
Sir Hilary Beckles, who heads up the group of 14 countries, pointed out the foreign secretary’s previous support while in opposition, using it as a launching point for his own demands.
Sir Hilary told Reuters: “It is our intention to persist with this strategy of calling for a summit to work through what a reparatory justice model ought to look like in the case of the Caribbean.”
“He [Mr Lammy] has been a supporter of the discourse while he was in opposition. The question is whether he would be given a free hand in his Government to take the matter to a higher level.”
Sir Keir Starmer is resisting calls by Commonwealth leaders to talk about cash for slavery, insisting he is interested in the issue of the present and future rather than the past.
However this morning the PM’s spokesman said that the Prime Minister may agree to a joint CHOGM communique that references slavery reparations provided it did not commit to the payout of any cash.
Last year a United Nations judge said that the UK is likely to owe more than £18 trillion in reparations for its role in the slave trade, despite spending billions to selflessly put an end to the human trafficking.