<p>A former deputy of the Ulster&nbsp;Union Party called&nbsp;Lord Kilclooney has&nbsp;apologised for his ''offensive'' tweet about US&nbsp;vice president-elect Kamala Harris.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Whilst Biden is proud to be Irish and Harris is rightly proud of her Indian background I certainly withdraw my reference to her as an Indian as it seems to have upset some people. I did not know her name and identified her with the term Indian. Most people understood.Racist NO.</p>
— Lord John Kilclooney (@KilclooneyJohn) <a href="https://twitter.com/KilclooneyJohn/status/1325833621530419200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<p>Earlier,&nbsp;Lord Kilclooney had tweeted&nbsp;"What happens if Biden moves on and the Indian becomes President. Who then becomes Vice President?"</p>

<p><strong>Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/siri-refers-to-kamala-harris-as-the-us-president-setting-off-a-new-conspiracy-theory-341997" hreflang="en">Siri refers to Kamala Harris as the US President, setting off a new conspiracy theory</a></strong></p>

<p>The 82-year-old's post had sparked outrage and the&nbsp;peer was widely criticised for the ''offensive tweet''.</p>

<p>Labour shadow minister Wes Streeting pointed out that this was not the first time that&nbsp;Lord Kilclooney had&nbsp;said like this and added “action must be taken” over the tweet.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">He did it before to Leo Varadkar and now he's done it to Kamala Harris. This sort of racism would be unacceptable from anyone, but from a member of the House of Lords it beggars belief. Action must be taken. <a href="https://t.co/2JbWFbqr9r">https://t.co/2JbWFbqr9r</a></p>
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) <a href="https://twitter.com/wesstreeting/status/1325788482934091777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<p>The Speaker of the Lords, Norman Fowler, was among those to demand John Kilclooney to retract and apologise for his remarks on Harris.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Lord Kilclooney should retract and apologise. This is an offensive way to refer to anyone, let alone a woman who has just made history. The comment is entirely unacceptable and has no place in British politics. I could not be clearer.</p>
— Lord Speaker (@LordSpeaker) <a href="https://twitter.com/LordSpeaker/status/1325824791404744706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<p>Kamala Harris made history on Saturday with her election as Joe Biden's vice president, becoming the first woman, first Black American, and first Asian American to win the second-highest US office.</p>

<p>A US senator from California, Harris has a track record of shattering glass ceilings. She served as San Francisco’s first female district attorney and was California's first woman of colour to be elected attorney general.</p>

<p>Harris, whose mother and father emigrated from India and Jamaica, respectively, had her sights set on becoming the first woman US president when she competed against Biden and others for their party's 2020 nomination.</p>


A former deputy of the Ulster Union Party called Lord Kilclooney has apologised for his ''offensive'' tweet about US vice president-elect Kamala Harris. Whilst Biden is proud to be Irish and Harris is rightly proud of her Indian background I certainly withdraw my reference to her as an Indian as it seems to have upset some people.

A former deputy of the Ulster Union Party called Lord Kilclooney has apologised for his ''offensive'' tweet about US vice president-elect Kamala Harris. Whilst Biden is proud to be Irish and Harris is rightly proud of her Indian background I certainly withdraw my reference to her as an Indian as it seems to have upset some people. I did not know her name and identified her with the term Indian. Most people understood.Racist NO. — Lord John Kilclooney (@KilclooneyJohn) November 9, 2020 × Earlier, Lord Kilclooney had tweeted "What happens if Biden moves on and the Indian becomes President. Who then becomes Vice President?" Also read: Siri refers to Kamala Harris as the US President, setting off a new conspiracy theory The 82-year-old's post had sparked outrage and the peer was widely criticised for the ''offensive tweet''. Labour shadow minister Wes Streeting pointed out that this was not the first time that Lord Kilclooney had said like this and added “action must be taken” over the tweet. He did it before to Leo Varadkar and now he's done it to Kamala Harris. This sort of racism would be unacceptable from anyone, but from a member of the House of Lords it beggars belief. Action must be taken. https://t.co/2JbWFbqr9r — Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) November 9, 2020 × The Speaker of the Lords, Norman Fowler, was among those to demand John Kilclooney to retract and apologise for his remarks on Harris. Lord Kilclooney should retract and apologise. This is an offensive way to refer to anyone, let alone a woman who has just made history. The comment is entirely unacceptable and has no place in British politics. I could not be clearer. — Lord Speaker (@LordSpeaker) November 9, 2020 × Kamala Harris made history on Saturday with her election as Joe Biden's vice president, becoming the first woman, first Black American, and first Asian American to win the second-highest US office. A US senator from California, Harris has a track record of shattering glass ceilings. She served as San Francisco’s first female district attorney and was California's first woman of colour to be elected attorney general. Harris, whose mother and father emigrated from India and Jamaica, respectively, had her sights set on becoming the first woman US president when she competed against Biden and others for their party's 2020 nomination.

UK peer Lord Kilclooney apologises for 'offensive' tweet on Kamala Harris

<p>A member of Britain's House of Lords was today forced to deny that he is a racist after he called Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar a "typical Indian"&nbsp;on social media.</p>

<p>He tweeted the comment in response to a&nbsp;news story in which Varadkar was accused of "poor manners" over his visit to Northern Ireland on Monday.</p>

<p>Former Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt&nbsp;tweeted that he could only interpret it as a "racist comment".</p>

<p>Lord Kilclooney told BBC he rejected "false accusations of racism". Lord Kilclooney, a former member of the Ulster Unionist Party or UUP in Northern Ireland, was responding to a BBC headline on Twitter which read: "DUP: Varadkar's visit to Northern Ireland showed disrespect". Mr Kilclooney tweeted back yesterday with the words&nbsp;"typical Indian".</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">DUP: Varadkar's visit to Northern Ireland showed 'disrespect' <a href="https://t.co/luWmC4BCVR">https://t.co/luWmC4BCVR</a></p>
— BBC Newsline (@bbcnewsline) <a href="https://twitter.com/bbcnewsline/status/990952802632511494?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<p>"I am certainly no racist and in particular have an admiration for Indians. A member of the British/Indian APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group), only yesterday I had a reply from 10, Downing St asking for a relaxation of visas for Indians. My point was that the PM (Varadkar) had upset Unionists more than Irish PMs had," he later tweeted, after being accused of racism.<br />
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But many took to Twitter to condemn his words, including former Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt who said it could only be interpreted as a racist comment.<br />
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Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said Lord Kilclooney was "an embarrassment"</p>

<p>She said his latest comment was a "slur on all Indian people with his use of the word 'typical'" and demanded that the Speaker of the House of Lords raise the matter with the peer.<br />
<br />
Democratic Unionist Party or DUP MLA Christopher Stalford tweeted: "I don't know what John Taylor (Lord Kilclooney) thinks he's playing at but he doesn't speak for me. Absolutely ridiculous behavior."<br />
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The 80-year-old life peer defended his remark by saying Varadkar had been "most provocative" over the course of the Brexit negotiations and had "misunderstood the views of many unionists". He added that the Irish premier had a "dismal lack of knowledge" about Northern Ireland affairs.<br />
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The comments came after Northern Ireland's DUP accused Maharashtrian-origin&nbsp;Varadkar of breach of protocol saying he visited the region without informing local elected representatives of his visit to counties Armagh and Down. The Irish leader stressed that he followed standard protocol by informing the Northern Ireland Office of his visit.<br />
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I can assure anyone that I'm not an invader. I just want to be a good neighbour and I received a very warm welcome in Northern Ireland,"&nbsp;Varadkar said.<br />
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"The only future that we have on this island is to work together and that's what I want to do. I'm not here to upset anyone or make anyone uncomfortable. I'm just here as a neighbour," he added.<br />
<br />
Ireland and Northern Ireland have a long history of political troubles, brought to the fore by the ongoing Brexit negotiations which will leave European Union member-state Ireland bordering a non-EU member state, Northern Ireland. The border issue is seen as a major stumbling block in Britain and the EU finalising any exit deal.<br />
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This is not the first time&nbsp;Kilclooney has been caught up in a racism controversy. Last November, he acknowledged that a remark he made about&nbsp;Varadkar had caused "upset and misunderstanding" and withdrew his tweet that referred to the premier as "the Indian".</p>

<p>"In Twitter one is restricted to a limited number of words and so for shorthand, I used the term Indian for the new PM in Dublin. This has caused upset and misunderstanding and so I withdraw it. I am no way racist and accept that Mr Varadkar is a 100 per cent Irish citizen," he had said at the time.</p>

<p>(With inputs from PTI)</p>


Lord Kilclooney, a former member of the Ulster Unionist Party or UUP in Northern Ireland, was responding to a BBC headline on Twitter which read: 'DUP: Varadkar's visit to Northern Ireland showed disrespect'

A member of Britain's House of Lords was today forced to deny that he is a racist after he called Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar a "typical Indian" on social media. He tweeted the comment in response to a news story in which Varadkar was accused of "poor manners" over his visit to Northern Ireland on Monday. Former Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt tweeted that he could only interpret it as a "racist comment". Lord Kilclooney told BBC he rejected "false accusations of racism". Lord Kilclooney, a former member of the Ulster Unionist Party or UUP in Northern Ireland, was responding to a BBC headline on Twitter which read: "DUP: Varadkar's visit to Northern Ireland showed disrespect". Mr Kilclooney tweeted back yesterday with the words "typical Indian". DUP: Varadkar's visit to Northern Ireland showed 'disrespect' https://t.co/luWmC4BCVR — BBC Newsline (@bbcnewsline) April 30, 2018 × "I am certainly no racist and in particular have an admiration for Indians. A member of the British/Indian APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group), only yesterday I had a reply from 10, Downing St asking for a relaxation of visas for Indians. My point was that the PM (Varadkar) had upset Unionists more than Irish PMs had," he later tweeted, after being accused of racism. But many took to Twitter to condemn his words, including former Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt who said it could only be interpreted as a racist comment. Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said Lord Kilclooney was "an embarrassment" She said his latest comment was a "slur on all Indian people with his use of the word 'typical'" and demanded that the Speaker of the House of Lords raise the matter with the peer. Democratic Unionist Party or DUP MLA Christopher Stalford tweeted: "I don't know what John Taylor (Lord Kilclooney) thinks he's playing at but he doesn't speak for me. Absolutely ridiculous behavior." The 80-year-old life peer defended his remark by saying Varadkar had been "most provocative" over the course of the Brexit negotiations and had "misunderstood the views of many unionists". He added that the Irish premier had a "dismal lack of knowledge" about Northern Ireland affairs. The comments came after Northern Ireland's DUP accused Maharashtrian-origin Varadkar of breach of protocol saying he visited the region without informing local elected representatives of his visit to counties Armagh and Down. The Irish leader stressed that he followed standard protocol by informing the Northern Ireland Office of his visit. I can assure anyone that I'm not an invader. I just want to be a good neighbour and I received a very warm welcome in Northern Ireland," Varadkar said. "The only future that we have on this island is to work together and that's what I want to do. I'm not here to upset anyone or make anyone uncomfortable. I'm just here as a neighbour," he added. Ireland and Northern Ireland have a long history of political troubles, brought to the fore by the ongoing Brexit negotiations which will leave European Union member-state Ireland bordering a non-EU member state, Northern Ireland. The border issue is seen as a major stumbling block in Britain and the EU finalising any exit deal. This is not the first time Kilclooney has been caught up in a racism controversy. Last November, he acknowledged that a remark he made about Varadkar had caused "upset and misunderstanding" and withdrew his tweet that referred to the premier as "the Indian". "In Twitter one is restricted to a limited number of words and so for shorthand, I used the term Indian for the new PM in Dublin. This has caused upset and misunderstanding and so I withdraw it. I am no way racist and accept that Mr Varadkar is a 100 per cent Irish citizen," he had said at the time. (With inputs from PTI)

Irish PM Leo Varadkar called 'typical Indian' by UK peer who says he was not being racist

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UK peer Lord Kilclooney apologises for 'offensive' tweet on Kamala Harris

Irish PM Leo Varadkar called 'typical Indian' by UK peer who says he was not being racist