Why Theresa May was right to withdraw the whip from Tory MP over racist comment

Theresa May has withdrawn the whip from the Tory MP Anne Marie Morris after Morris talked about ‘the n—– in the woodpile’ at a think tank meeting. May has made the right decision. Morris claims that her use of the phrase was unintentional, but it is hard to see how that could be the case. There are certain phrases—such as call a spade, spade—that have racist connotations that most people are unaware of. But this phrase is not one of them; the first word in it rather gives the game away.

Morris’ behaviour feels far short of what we should expect from our MPs, so the withdrawal of the whip was the appropriate response. There are those this evening pointing to how other politicians have got away with using this kind of language. But this isn’t the standard by which these things should be judged. Rather, the question should be is this language appropriate or not.