Calls for racist comments by Flintshire based AM to be investigated by Assembly

A UKIP AM who has an ‘office’ on Shotton High Street called MP Chuka Umunna “a f***ing coconut” in a foul mouthed racist slur recorded by her former advisor.

Nigel Williams recorded the telephone conversation in May last year when he was Ms Brown’s senior adviser, he was sacked later that month.

Ms Brown was recorded saying;

“I don’t say this lightly right but Chuka Umunna is a f***ing coconut.

He’s got, he’s got as much understanding of an ordinary black man’s experience as I have.

Because he may be black but his mother or father was, was British from a very, very influential family.

He is an absolute coconut, black on the outside, white on the inside and Barack Obama is exactly the same.”

Michelle Brown and Nigel Williams at the Assembly election count in Connah’s Quay in May 2016 – Mr Williams was sacked by Ms Brown soon after.

Delyn AM Hannah Blythyn has now written to the Welsh Assembly Commissioner for standards asking for an urgent investigation into Ms Brown’s remarks to be carried.

Hope the @AssemblyWales Commissioner for Standards treats this appalling behaviour by an AM with the seriousness it warrants https://t.co/Yuc2rFSnFa

— Hannah Blythyn AM (@hannahblythyn) 21 July 2017

Hannah Blythyn wrote;

“I have been made aware of a series of overtly racist comments made by Michelle Brown AM which believe to be a clear breach of the code of conduct for Assembly Members.

I am writing to ask you to investigate these as a matter of urgency, given the highly offensive and discriminatory nature of these distressing remarks.”

Ms Brown said her language was “inappropriate” and apologised;

“The point I was making is that because of his considerable wealth and privilege, Chuka 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.”

Alyn and Deeside AM Carl Sargeant commenting in a post on Twitter said of Ms Brown: “Disgraceful behaviour and no real apology.”

YvetteCooper MP said on Twitter: “Racism & insults by Michelle Brown AM are utterly disgraceful & should have no place in Britain. Why hasn’t UKIP expelled her from party?”

AM Michelle Brown has a regional office in Shotton – It’s understood to never have been opened. Rent, which is paid for by the Welsh Assembly, for a similar size shop on Shotton High St costs around £550 a month.

Michelle Brown, who lives in Mostyn, has had a ‘colourful’ start to life as an Assembly Member.

The former St Richard Gwyn High School pupil who gained a master’s degree in law was forced to deny an accusation by a Cardiff Bay hotel that she smoked “recreational drugs” in her bedroom.

The hotel charged her £250 accusing her of causing a “strong smell” in her room that meant it could not be used for 24 hours.

At the time a spokesman for the AM said: “Michelle had recently spent a couple of nights at a hotel with smoking rooms, of which there are many across the UK, and regrettably forgot she was staying in a hotel without such rooms.

“It was an absent-minded mistake, and Michelle paid the resulting cleaning fee”.

Earlier this week UKIP members in north Wales called for her to be deselected after they claimed she was “abrasive and discourteous” to local members.

Shaun Owen, secretary of UKIP’s Delyn branch, wrote to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) asking for action to be taken against her according to the BBC.

In April Ms Brown faced a vote of no confidence among party members across north Wales due to concerns about “serious misconduct” – they included allegations of impropriety over alleged discussions around changing the text of a job advert in her office to help her brother get an interview for the post.

Ms Brown said she acted with “complete propriety” in the matter