So, Australia has the Unexpected Citizenship Issues and here in the UK, we have Political Foot In Mouth Disease.
Labour MP (Rotherham) Sarah Champion has resigned from her position as Shadow Equalities Minister after writing for the Sun that "Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls".
Oooooookay.
Now, in her defense, as the MP for Rotherham, she is aware that a small minority of Pakistani-descended males have indeed groomed and raped white girls. After all, it was a major scandal, made worse by the fact that the authorities at the time simply ignored it and tried to hush it up due to their fear of being racist (see
here for details).
Her phrasing, though, implied that
a large number of Pakistani Males regularly undertook such actions. As a politician, she should be fully aware of the need for careful phrasing, especially when writing for a paper.
Furthermore, as she was the Shadow
Equalities Minister, part of her brief included supporting ethnic minorities as well as countering gender biases. Apparently accusing Pakistani Males of being rapists does not really aid in promoting equality...
Let us hope that the next person promoted to fill the suddenly-vacated position is less prone to gaffes like that one.