‘I’m British, English and British Asian’, says Rishi Sunak in riposte to racially charged debate over identity

Podcaster claimed former prime minister not English because he is ‘brown-skinned Hindu’

Rishi Sunak has described himself as being “British, English and British Asian” in a riposte to increasing racially charged language used by figures on the right.

The UK’s first British Asian prime minister was speaking after his identity was questioned in recent debate sparked by a claim by the podcaster Konstantin Kisin that Sunak was not English because he was a “brown-skinned Hindu”.

Suella Braverman, the London-born Reform MP and former home secretary, later appeared to give credence to Kisin’s claims by saying that she was not English and questioning whether others born in the country could necessarily have that identity.

More recently, Matthew Goodwin, Reform UK’s candidate in the upcoming Gorton and Denton byelection, refused to disown a claim that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds were not necessarily British.