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Dawn Butler claims she was reported to police over Labour ‘melanin’ tweet
MP laughs off criticism of selfie celebration alongside number of other black politicians from party
Dawn Butler has claimed she was reported to the police over a tweet in which she praised the Labour party for “showing off melanin”.
On Monday, the MP for Brent East posted photographs on social media alongside a number of black Labour politicians with the caption: “Labour Government showing off the melanin”.
However, on Tuesday she wrote: “Morning. This ruffled a few feathers. Someone even reported me to the police. Honestly I can’t stop laughing.”
She added: “My morning message to those people is, get used to me celebrating my greatness, I will not play small to make you feel better about yourself.”
In the first image on the original post, Ms Butler was seen smiling for a selfie with Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister.
She is then pictured with a group of eight other female Labour MPs – Kim Johnson for Liverpool Riverside; Zarah Sultana for Coventry South; Bell Ribeiro-Addy for Clapham and Brixton Hill; Apsana Begum for Poplar and Limehouse; Flo Eshalomi for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green; Juliet Campbell for Broxtowe; Miatta Fahnbulleh for Peckham; and Taiwo Owatemi for Coventry North West.
David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, is seen smiling with Ms Butler in a third image.
Responding to the post, some criticised Ms Butler for choosing to highlight the skin colour of the MPs.
Others suggested that if a white MP had chosen to celebrate their skin colour in such a way, it would be considered racist.
It was also suggested to Ms Butler that skin colour has no material impact on the ability of one to do their job effectively.
Dawn Butler and the Metropolitan Police were contacted by The Telegraph for comment.
It is not the first time that Ms Butler’s social media activity has attracted criticism.
During the general election campaign, she was called “beyond embarrassing” after posting a video of herself rapping over a UK garage track as part of her campaign.
She posted a clip of herself singing over a remixed version of 21 Seconds by So Solid Crew.
In the video, Ms Butler sings and dances while wearing a camouflage trench coat and black sunglasses.
Alongside the video posted on X, formerly Twitter, she wrote: “Urgent. We’ve got 21 days before they’ve got to go. Vote for Labour. Vote for me as your MP for Brent East on Thursday 4th July.”
One person who viewed it wrote: “This is beyond embarrassing, the UK’s political class is a joke.”