A North Wales AM has called Chuka Umunna a “f***ing coconut” during a foul-mouthed rant against him, Barack Obama and Tristram Hunt.
Michelle Brown, a regional Ukip AM, said the Labour MP for Streatham was “black on the outside, white on the inside” in a telephone conversation with Nigel Williams, who was her senior advisor at the time.
In the exchange on May 14, 2016, Ms Brown also described former Labour MP Mr Hunt as a “t**t” and derided his background, before saying former US President Obama was “exactly the same” as Mr Umunna.
Ms Brown has apologised to anyone offended by her comments and said the language she used about Mr Umunna was “inappropriate”.
During the conversation last year, the AM said: “I don’t say this lightly…but Chuka Umunna is a f***ing coconut.
“He’s got as much understanding of an ordinary black man’s experience as I have.
“He may be black but his mother or his father was British from a very, very influential family.
“He is a coconut – black on the outside, white on the inside, and Barack Obama’s exactly the same.”
A spokesperson for the National Assembly for Wales Labour group said: “This is absolutely outrageous language and lays bare the disgusting racism at the heart of UKIP.
“Anything less than immediate suspension would be a clear endorsement of Michelle Brown’s racist slur.”
Chuka Umunna MP(Image: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire)
Mr Williams worked for Ms Brown for just over a year before being sacked by her in May this year, and was previously a police detective of 14 years in North Wales and Merseyside.
He said he spoke out after recently discovering the conversation among his records.
“I was absolutely appalled,” said Mr Williams.
“It’s bad enough coming from anybody, but to come from a newly appointed Assembly Member is absolutely appalling.
“I’ve seen swearing and I’ve been called all sorts of names myself, but I’ve actually never seen it from somebody in such a position.
“This wasn’t a meltdown. This was just a conversation that Michelle Brown was having, which she thought was OK.
Former Labour MP Tristram Hunt(Image: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
“There was no meltdown going on. She was talking ordinarily about something else and just decided to throw that into the conversation.
“She was being appallingly badly behaved.”
In a statement, Ms Brown said: “The point I was making is that, because of his considerable wealth and privilege, Chukka Umunna cannot possibly understand the difficulties and issues that the average black person faces in this country any more than I can, and I stand by that assertion.
“I do however accept that the language I used in the private conversation was inappropriate and I apologise to anyone that has been offended by it.
“As far as the language I used about Mr Hunt is concerned, it was a private conversation and I was using language that friends and colleagues often do when chatting to each other.”
Mr Ummuna, Mr Hunt and UKIP have been approached for comment.
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