Is everyone in Britain racist?

Michael Deacon

If a Reform councillor can get reported to police just for saying she was ‘born and bred here’, we’re all in trouble

14 October 2025 

Daily Telegraph 

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About 10 years ago, the Left-wing comedian Stewart Lee performed a stand-up routine about a London taxi driver who’d said to him: “These days, you get arrested and thrown in jail if you say you’re English, don’t you?” Naturally, this quote gave Mr Lee’s audience a good chuckle. Stupid cabbie. Clearly he was one of those frightful, Sun-reading, lower-class gammon who are always moaning about “PC gone mad”.

In hindsight, though, perhaps that taxi driver was simply ahead of his time. Last week a Reform councillor named Claire Mackie-Brown gave a TV interview in which she said that unrest over asylum hotels was “scary” for her, as “somebody who was born and bred here”. And, believe it or not, these words got her reported to the police for alleged “hate crime”.

If you’re wondering why, here’s what the anonymous person who reported her had to say. “The phrase ‘born and bred’ carries specific connotations in immigration discourse, particularly when contrasted with the presence of asylum seekers,” he or she wrote, in a complaint that was 22 pages long. “Academic research demonstrates that such language creates implicit hierarchies of belonging and legitimacy.” On this basis, he or she argued that the phrase is “exclusionary” and “discriminatory”.

Having reviewed the Reform councillor’s comments, however, police announced yesterday that they’d found “no evidence of criminality”. Which is a relief. Because if saying you were born and bred here were a crime, an awful lot of people would be in trouble.

For one thing, it would mean that Stewart Lee’s taxi driver really could get arrested and thrown in jail for saying he’s English. Still, at least he’d have plenty of company. Even people who write for The Guardian could have their collars felt.

In February, the Tory MP Suella Braverman declared that, although she was born in England, her Indian heritage means that she will “never be truly English”. One person who took exception to this claim was Nels Abbey. Mr Abbey is a British-Nigerian author who co-founded the Black Writers Guild. And, in response to Mrs Braverman, he wrote a column for The Guardian, which began with the words, “Here’s a thing: Black and brown people can be born and bred in England.”

Born and bred? I wonder whether the person who reported the Reform councillor read that article. And, if so, whether he or she accused The Guardian of hate crime, for using the exact same phrase.

At any rate, if saying you were born in this country had been deemed an offence, the police would be terribly busy. Especially at airports.

“Here’s another one, Sarge. Just look at his passport. Honestly, I can’t wait for my lunch break. That’s my 30,000th arrest this morning.”

‘Ohhhhhh, Jeremy Clarkson...’

Ed Miliband should be feeling worried. Because, on Sunday night, Jeremy Clarkson made a very ominous remark about him.

“People of Doncaster North,” wrote Mr Clarkson on social media. “Are you happy with your MP? Would you like it if someone from your neck of the woods kicked him out?”

The former Top Gear host did not elaborate. So it isn’t yet known which notable Doncastrian he had in mind when he said “someone from your neck of the woods”. Perhaps he meant Kevin Keegan. Or Roy Clarke, writer of Last of the Summer Wine. Or Louis Tomlinson, formerly of the boy band One Direction.

There is, however, an even more enticing possibility. After all, Mr Clarkson grew up in Doncaster, too. So it may be that he himself is planning to stand against the Energy Secretary.

I do hope so. Because I believe that a Clarkson victory would have lasting significance for British politics.

Last November, the polling expert James Kanagasooriam argued that, if Mr Clarkson were to stand for election, it could be “Britain’s Trump moment”. He wasn’t suggesting that Mr Clarkson has a character like Donald Trump’s, or similar political views; he simply meant that the former has comparable “reach”, or public appeal.

At the very least, we would surely get some great TV out of it. Just as Mr Clarkson chronicles his misadventures in agriculture on Clarkson’s Farm, he could chronicle his misadventures in Parliament on a series called, say, Clarkson’s Commons.

I genuinely think that such a show could change the way we talk about politics. By highlighting the constant struggles and stresses of rural life, Clarkson’s Farm has made city-dwelling viewers more sympathetic towards farmers. So Clarkson’s Commons could do the same for Westminster – and make voters more sympathetic towards MPs.

Any such sympathy would of course come too late to save Mr Miliband. But at least he would have the consolation of knowing that his defeat helped to make Britain a better place.