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Llew Smith accused of cowardice 7/5/2002
A leading anti-racist campaigner and Plaid Cymru member has openly accused veteran Labour MP Llew Smith of being a coward and deliberately stirring up ill-feeling between the English and the Welsh, after a BBC radio interview where he accused prominent Plaid party members of being racist but was not prepared to name names.
The interview on BBC Radio Wales was a forerunner to a Parliamentary debate on the issue of racism in Wales, where Llew Smith intends to accuse Plaid Cymru and other Welsh language campaigners of being racist.
Ian Titherington is the Secretary of the partys trade union section. He stated, I am sick and tired of dinosaurs like Llew Smith making such disgraceful insinuations, without being prepared to back them up outside the protection of parliamentary privilege. The man is a coward.
He questioned what Llew Smith had actually done in recent months in terms of campaigning against the rise of the BNP in the UK and against some of the asylum polices of his own party.
He added, “Where was Llew when his party locked up asylum seekers in Cardiff prison, or when the BNP marched in South Wales last year? He is nothing more than a bitter and twisted man who is deeply prejudiced towards anyone who speaks or promotes the Welsh language.”
He challenged Labour party leaders who genuinely cared for the future of the Welsh language to disassociate themselves from his inflammatory comments and questioned the agenda of the Labour party towards the Welsh language, if they were not prepared to do so.
He concluded, “It will be interesting to see how the Labour party reacts to such divisive statements from one of their own. Allowing such groundless and insulting statements go by without rebuke, will be speak volumes of Labour partys attitude to the future of the Welsh language.”
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