A Conservative minister has provoked a backlash after she was forced to apologize for describing Birmingham and Blackpool as “divine”.
Speaking at the launch of the government’s new digital strategy on Thursday, it was reported that Heather Wheeler, a junior minister in the cabinet office, said: “I was only at a conference in Blackpool or Birmingham or somewhere fantastic.”
Wheeler later apologized in a tweet, saying that “he made an inappropriate comment that does not reflect [her] real vision ”.
Blackpool council leader Lynn Williams responded to Wheeler’s “ignorant and disrespectful” comments, saying they were especially frustrating because the government was supposed to work alongside the city of Lancashire to deal with social deprivation. as part of its flagship program.
“We know we have a lot of social inequalities to deal with, and in fact we have to work with the government to address them as part of the leveling program, so yes, it’s frustrating,” he said.
The transparency of the program, which has been a cornerstone of the government’s platform since 2019, has been called into question by leaders outside London who allege that some promised investments have not been received and that they have been channeled. other funds in conservative seats.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Williams said the popular spa resort was “used to receiving kind of ignorant and unadvised comments” and begged Wheeler to “come take a look” herself.
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He said the statements had made him “very angry”, especially after the city hosted the Conservative Spring Conference in March and a large increase in the number of people in the past two years. “We’re doing something right. People love Blackpool,” he said.
Asked about Wheeler’s apology, she didn’t seem convinced. “I mean, you said it, you thought it,” he said, adding that making Blackpool and Birmingham the butt of the joke was “more evidence of what the true thoughts are.”
Jess Phillips, Labor MP for Birmingham Yardley, also responded to Wheeler’s comments, tweeting that while “it’s okay not to like them everywhere … It’s not okay to scoff at them in a mocking way”.
Alongside his comments on the “implicit snobbery” expressed by the Conservative minister, Phillips said that his own vision of patriotism is about “finding the joy of the people and the heart, as well as the landscape of our country. “.
“Being a patriot like I’m sure Wheeler wants to present himself as he thinks he is, is so much more than singing Jerusalem and waving flags, that’s a spectacle,” he said.
Williams and Phillips join several key voices in their party to criticize the minor minister’s comments. Deputy Labor Leader Angela Rayner tweeted: “The mask has slipped. This minister has exposed what Boris Johnson’s Conservatives really think about our communities behind closed doors. scale “.
Lisa Nandy, the shadow secretary of state for leveling, housing and communities, wrote: “They tell us they’re leveling the country, but that’s what they really think. They don’t even know the difference between “Blackpool or Birmingham or a great place”.