Tory MP Mark Francois criticised after using ‘outdated’ racial slur in Commons

33 comments
  1. Horrible little racist man uses horrible racist language.

    He really is a pathetic little shit with no place in a modern representative democracy.

    In any other occupation with a salary of £80k+ he’d have been given his P45 years ago.

  2. Well we can’t have that, doesn’t he know that only modern racial slur’s are acceptable in the commons.

    In all seriousness what a loathsome little creep.

  3. Tbh I didn’t realise that was an outdated slur. Weirdly talking about the Japanese dosent come up in conversation that often.

  4. Wow. I have heard that term used dozens of times and never would have thought it to be racist. Never heard it used in a racist context.

    I am not going to use the W word but goddamn people get offended easily these days. Humanity has definitely peaked. Nothing of note is ever going to get done when so many spend their time crying about shite like this.

  5. He deserves to be raked over the coals, this term should have died after WW2.

    Im not sure if i like the tone of the Sky News reporting though, Sarah Owen MP raised the complaint and Sky News has to add ‘first MP of south east Asian descent’ as if this is only serious because an MP that has origins within 2000 miles of Japan has objected to it. I am sorry but anyone should be able to challenge racial slurs and without having an implied racial connection to the targeted group.

  6. I’m surprised at how few people know this is a slur, TBH. I suppose it’s not that common, but I’ve definitely known about this for years.

  7. To be clear this is absolutely not the case here or a defence of this guy in any way…

    But on a wider point I find it really interesting when slurs become re-normalised or championed by the community that they were originally against. Take queer for example. On a 90s playground that’s inherently offensive by the nature of its intent but can be acceptable again now if used contextually.

  8. I highly doubt most people realise this is deemed offensive (if indeed it even is?). Shorthand for most nationalities aren’t offensive. Brits, Aussies, Argies, Greeks, Fins, Danes, Afghans, nobody would ever get offended by any of them. It’s only the shorthand used for Pakistani’s that is commonly deemed offensive, we don’t have a large Japanese population, so if it’s offensive I doubt many Brits would know.

  9. It’s always fascinating every time someone uses a racial slur how many people pop out of the woodwork attempting to either downplay it or defend it.

  10. America ruined the word in America during and after WW2. Many in the UK don’t know it can be considered racist though. Is “Japs” even ever racist here? Do people use it to be racist? Only way I ever became aware of it being considered racist by anyone was due to interacting with American anime fans on the internet. It’s not universal at all, similar to the word beginning with p and ending with aki. Or “coolie” being somewhat racist towards South Asians in the Carribean, but not in India. But we, in the UK, live in an American cultural hegemony so if they say it means something, we go along with that meaning – if the word was racist in Indonesia, Macedonia, Chile, Angola or some other random country we wouldn’t care, unless someone from that place was involved in the incident. Imagine if British parliament started calling the pavement a sidewalk, to try not to confuse Canadian viewers who think a “pavement” is the road where cars drive.

    He’s speaking in parliament though, not typing or speaking with friends – surely you’d use proper English, not shortened words? Would you call Nepalis neps or Brazilians brazzies in a formal setting? Very casual.

  11. As many people pointed out not everyone here was aware it was a racial slur.

    That’s actually because it’s a American term in origin as opposed to say p*ki which is of British origin

  12. What on earth is wrong with “Japs”?

    Its no different to “Brits”. The Japanese have never been oppressed or subjugated by the British… this is just people deciding to get offended for the sake of it.

  13. I am involved in the JDM scene here. Calling your car a “Jap Import” is quite common in the UK, but seen as a major no-no on the American Forums or Facebook Pages.

    For example, we have a Japfest every year here which usually horrifies our American chums when they hear about it.

  14. Not wanting to defend a Tory or anything but I’ve never thought that was racist, just an abbreviation like ‘brits’ or even a nickname like ‘yanks’. Are there connotations I’m unaware of here?

  15. I didn’t know “Japs” was a racist term it is that out of date, I honestly thought it was the same as saying “Brit”. I’m glad I’ve never accidentally used it before with someone.

  16. Kinda uncomfortable that the headline implies the problem was that his racial slur wasn’t up to date enough…

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