Jack Straw under fire

Former Home Secretary Jack Straw has come under heavy fire after comments about Pakistani men.

The Labour MP for Blackburn has been accused of "stereotyping" after suggesting some men of Pakistani origin see white girls as "easy meat".

Yesterday the BBC reported that “Jack Straw has made a claim that there is a problem in Britain's Pakistani heritage community where gangs of men are targeting young white girls who they see as “easy meat” in so called “street grooming” crimes”.

Mr Straw told BBC’s Newsnight, "These young men are in a western society, in any event, they act like any other young men, they're fizzing and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that, but Pakistani heritage girls are off-limits and they are expected to marry a Pakistani girl from Pakistan, typically.

"So they then seek other avenues and they see these young women, white girls who are vulnerable, some of them in care... who they think are easy meat."

The comments came after two Asian men were given indeterminate jail terms last week for committing sexual crimes against several young girls in Derby.

Although the trial judge had commented that the race of the victims and their abusers was "coincidental", Mr Straw went on to make the comments which has infuriated many within Black and minority ethnic communities and has led even Norman Tebbit to liken his comments to that of the BNP.

Labour Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee and Leicester MP Keith Vaz, said it was wrong to stereotype an entire community and a proper inquiry was needed.

The Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK) commented that; “most of the press and the BNP have conflated the remarks to conclude that “Muslim Paedophiles” are stalking the streets of Britain and preying on vulnerable white girls’

They ask ‘How can Jack Straw make such a damaging claim when he doesn't seem to have any empirical evidence? In fact he contradicts himself by also stating that the sex offenders wings of most prisons are “overwhelmingly white”. To suggest that such crimes are tolerated by Britain's Pakistani community is an insult”

“Straw seems to have used the kind of tactics reminiscent of Phil Woolas, the disgraced former MP for Oldham East & Saddleworth by trying to get the white voters angry for political ends”.

The organisation calls for ‘a scoping project to be undertaken to understand the scale of the issue across the country with analysis of race and faith factors to uncover the truth’. 

They condemn the Derby gang and call for ‘the toughest sentencing of anyone found guilty of such heinous crimes, asking for the cooperation of all the communities in tackling this nationwide problem; but asks that ‘Jack Straw wait for the results of a proper academic study before diving head first into racial stereotyping for political ends’.

Dr Shuja Shafi, Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) also condemns those convicted but said; “Linking race and culture with crime, without any substantiated evidence is dangerous and sets a slippery slope. These are criminals and it should be seen as such. We need a proper national investigation before we jump to any conclusions to the contrary. It is unfortunate the former Home Secretary, Jack Straw made a blanket assertion that Pakistani men specifically target young white women as they are ‘easy meat’. These comments are not based on national evidence.”

Former cabinet minister and Conservative Party Chairman Norman Tebbit also joined the attack on Jack Straw blogging in yesterday’s Telegraph under the heading ‘Like it or not, we must find common ground with British Muslims who stand up to fanatics’

“Not many rational people would condemn Jack Straw as a racial bigot, but his remarks on the attitude of some young Muslims of Pakistani origin towards white women would until now have come only from spokesmen for the BNP”.

Labour Leader Ed Miliband distanced himself from Jack Straw's comments saying, "You have to be careful about making generalisations that will be taken out of context".

Winsome-Grace Cornish