GMB presenter explains why displaying golly dolls in Essex pub is …

A pub in Grays that was raided by Essex Police officers who seize 15 golliwog dolls the owners had on display over the bar continues to be the centre of a heated argument over what is and isn’t offensive. The White Hart Inn had six police officers arrive on April 4 following a complaint of a hate crime against the pub. Golliwog dolls are now considered as a racist and deeply offensive caricature of Black people, but many who grew up with them say they don’t think they are offensive.

One of those people is the pub’s owner Benice Ryley who said she had been displaying the collection of around 30 dolls, donated by her late aunt and customers, in the pub for nearly 10 years. She told the PA news agency she could not understand why people might find them offensive and said they were part of her “childhood history”. Even Home Secretary Suella Braverman weighed into the argument saying that she had told Essex Police it had been a waste of time going to the pub.

Notably, Essex Police said they hadn’t been contacted by the Home Secretary. The argument has continued with Good Morning Britain’s presenter Adil Ray having a ‘heated exchange’ with Tory Transport Secretary Mark Harper about the home secretary’s comments. Adil also explained why the dolls are offensive, saying he had been likened to their appearance himself when he was growing up, and now those remarks had restarted on social media since Ms Braverman’s comments.

Adil Ray, one of the presenters on Good Morning Britain (Image: ITV)

Adil said: “Do you think it’s right that she’s [Suella Braverman] inflamed racists and I’m getting this abuse?

I wasn’t getting it before two weeks ago, Mr Harper. I wasn’t getting all these pictures of golliwogs. Why am I getting them now?

“I was called golliwog at school. I had racist abuse at school. And the Home Secretary saying that police are wasting their time going round to a pub landlord and having a word with him for displaying them in his pub.

Is that right? Would you do the same if you were Home Secretary?” The minister replied: “Clearly if you’re receiving abuse on social media, that’s clearly wrong.

But the people responsible for any abuse you’re receiving on social media are the people sending it to you.” Adil fired back: “It really upsets me. Why can’t you just say it was a wrong thing?”

“Adil, to be fair I’m trying to answer your questions and every time I try and answer your questions you interrupt me. So look, I’m trying to answer your questions sensibly,” Mr Harper said. “The police make operational decisions based on enforcing the law.

That is for them to do. I don’t think it’s helpful for ministers to second guess it.” He added: “I don’t think people should display them.

I wouldn’t display them, I don’t think that’s very helpful at all.” But Mr Harper said he does not think the Home Secretary is “responsible” for the behaviour of those directing online abuse at Mr Ray. A source close to Ms Braverman said her unhappiness at the incident had been passed on to the force, as first reported by Mail Online.

The outlet quoted a Home Office source as saying police forces “should not be getting involved in this kind of nonsense” and instead focus on “catching criminals”. Essex Police subsequently denied it had been reprimanded by the Home Secretary.

Suella Braverman and Rishi Sunak with Supt Claire Talbot and PFCC Roger Hirst of Essex Police (Image: Essex Police)

The Home Secretary, who once railed against the “tofu-eating wokerati”, is regarded as a divisive figure for her remarks on migration and “culture war” issues. Senior Conservative peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi was among figures to hit out at what she described as “racist rhetoric” from Ms Braverman earlier in the week, telling LBC: “I think the Prime Minister has to get a really strong message that this kind of rhetoric, whether it’s on small boats, whether it’s the stuff she was saying on the weekend which is not based on evidence, not nuanced, not kind of explanatory in any way, it has got to stop.

“And you know, again today, we’ve woken up to a story where she’s having a go at the police for removing golliwog dolls from a pub.”

References

1. ^ NHS nurse falls into coma after suddenly collapsing on holiday in Hungary (www.essexlive.news)