Boris Johnson has come under fire over his attack on the “part-Kenyan” President Barack Obama.
The Brexit-backing London mayor said it was “incoherent”, “inconsistent” and “downright hypocritical” for the US leader to intervene in the European Union referendum row.
But critics accused him of making a “loaded” attack by referring to the president’s ancestry, with Labour frontbencher Diane Abbott claiming his “offensive” comments echoed those of the “Tea Party” right-wing tendency in the US.
In a column in The Sun, Mr Johnson referred to the removal of a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office when Mr Obama became president.
“No one was sure whether the President had himself been involved in the decision,” he said.
“Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan President’s ancestral dislike of the British empire – of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender.”
The mayor continued by arguing that Mr Obama and the US would never agree to the kind of arrangements the UK has as a member of the EU.
“It is deeply anti-democratic – and much as I admire the United States, and much as I respect the President, I believe he must admit that his country would not dream of embroiling itself in anything of the kind,” he said.
Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan President’s ancestral dislike of the British empire – of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender.
“It is incoherent. It is inconsistent, and yes it is downright hypocritical. The Americans would never contemplate anything like the EU, for themselves or for their neighbours in their own hemisphere. Why should they think it right for us?”
Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Menzies Campbell of Pittenweem said Mr Johnson’s comments were “an unacceptable smear”.
He said: “Many people will find Boris Johnson’s loaded attack on President Obama’s sincerity deeply offensive. If this is an illustration of the kind of diplomacy that we might expect from a Johnson leadership of the Tory Party then heaven help us.
“In truth this attack constitutes an unacceptable smear.”
Shadow international development secretary Ms Abbott said: “Boris dismissing president Obama as ‘half-Kenyan’ reflects the worst Tea Party rhetoric”.
