Labour MP calls on Tories to give up Whelan’s £1.5m donation after “antisemitic and racist” comments

Karl Turner MP has written a letter to David Cameron, asking him to give up the £1.5 million donated to the Tories by Dave Whelan, the owner of Wigan Athletic football club after he made “antisemitic and racist comments”.

This comes after Whelan said “Jewish people chase money more than everybody else” and that there is ‘nothing’ wrong with calling a person from China a “chink”, defending the use of this racist term by claiming, “If any Englishman said he has never called a Chinaman a chink he is lying. There is nothing bad about doing that. It is like calling the British Brits, or the Irish Paddies.”

Since 2007 Whelan has donated £1.5 million to the Tories, and his last donation of £100,000 was in August this year.

In his letter, Karl Turner explained he thought David Cameron should give up this money and instead distribute it among different charities:

“Given his status as a significant contributor to your re-election efforts you must now make it clear if you personally condone or condemn these comments. I hope that you agree with me that these antisemitic and racist comments have no place in modern British society, and as such I hope that you also agree with me that you must now give up any money that you have received from Mr Whelan and consider which charitable groups would be better recipients of it.

“Failure to act swiftly in this matter will show a lack of leadership. It will not be possible for you to simultaneously condemn offensive remarks while accepting large sums of money from those responsible for them.”