Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith reveals he was targeted by sick troll who said he hoped his children would DIE after he criticised Black Lives Matter and likened taking the knee to a Nazi salute
- Brendan Clarke-Smith was targeted in June after he criticised the gesture
- Troll said he hoped MP’s kids would die in the same way as George Floyd
- Mr Clarke Smith has a young son, Henry, with his Romanian doctor wife Andra
A Tory MP revealed today that he was targeted by a sick online troll who said he hoped his children would die, after he criticised Black Lives Matter supporters for taking the knee.
Brendan Clarke-Smith was abused in June after he likened the anti-racism gesture by England footballers to a Nazi salute given by players before a game in Hitler’s Germany before the Second World War.
In the message he was branded a ‘racist Tory scumbag’ by a man who said he hoped his children would die in the same manner as George Floyd.
The black American was killed by a white police officer who choked him by kneeling on his neck, sparking the BLM movement.
Mr Clarke Smith has a young son, Henry, with his Romanian wife Andra, who is a doctor.
In an interview with Gloria de Piero on GB News today the Bassetlaw MP said that his female colleagues received ‘far worse’ but the comments sent in an email to his office ‘crossed the line’ in terms of abuse.
The perpetrator, who was not one of his constituents, was later arrested and cautioned by police, he added.
‘After I made the comments about taking the knee, I had one particularly unpleasant message that was sent to me and it said basically, about kneeling on my children’s necks until they were dead because they wanted me to feel that pain.’ he said.
Brendan Clarke-Smith was targeted in June after he likened the anti-racism gesture by England footballers to a Nazi salute given by players before a game in Hitler’s Germany before the Second World War.
Tyrone Mings and Mason Mount took the knee during the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier match between England and Hungary at Wembley last night
‘Now, I don’t have children, I only have one child and you know, it’s a keyboard warrior. But even so I mean I had to speak to my wife about that and kind of brief her beforehand just to say, look, please don’t get upset with this. Don’t take it too personally. It’s just idiots on a keyboard.
‘It’s not going to happen in real life, but I think sometimes people forget in terms of the security we have.
‘My house, you know, it’s been fitted with panic alarms and new locks and everything. And my wife said, why are we getting these? And you tell some of the stories that colleagues have had.
‘In my case, it was just a threat, the police dealt with it, they were great and so on. But it just does make you worry in future that something actually bad could happen.’
Speaking in June as the Euro 2020 finals were underway he compared taking the knee to England players giving a Nazi salute when playing a friendly against Germany in 1938.
After thousands booed the stance ahead of Wednesday’s win over Austria, manager Gareth Southgate urged fans to support players making the gesture against discrimination, but this failed to convince some sections of the crowd who continued to jeer at the second England warm-up game on Sunday.
Writing on a Facebook blog, Mr Clarke-Smith, the Bassetlaw MP disagreed with Southgate, arguing that despite their ‘admirable’ desire to express their opposition to racism, footballers taking the knee would be considered to be endorsing BLM, a ‘political movement’.
Brendan Clarke-Smith controversially invoked England’s decision to perform a Nazi salute before a 1938 friendly with Germany (pictured) to demonstrate that ‘mixing politics and football’ had ‘disastrous consequences’
He mentioned England’s friendly with Germany in 1938, describing how officials convinced players including Sir Stanley Matthews to ignore their concerns about taking part in a Nazi salute by reassuring them it was a ‘formal gesture of courtesy’, not an endorsement of the regime.
The players ‘reluctantly’ agreed, Mr Clarke-Smith noted, adding: ‘The point here is that regardless of the original intention, the mixing of politics and football had disastrous consequences. Symbolism means a lot, both in football and wider society, and we must think carefully about how it is used.’
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