A Tory former minister has apologised for his “grossly insensitive” comments after he said Jewish people should “pay for their own” Holocaust memorial because they have “an awful lot of money” and “property everywhere”.
Lord Hamilton of Epsom made a personal statement in the upper chamber at the start of proceedings on Monday.
The Conservative peer had already issued an apology in the face of a backlash which saw his remarks branded “disgusting racism”.
Lord Hamilton has not been stripped of the Tory whip but his comments were condemned by the party as “completely unacceptable” and “flagrantly antisemitic”.
He was speaking in a House of Lords debate last Tuesday on legislation which would pave the way for a Holocaust memorial and learning centre to be built in a park next to parliament.
The site in Victoria Tower Gardens has been controversial, with concerns over the loss of green space in central London.
Lord Hamilton of Epsom
Lord Hamilton warned it would be “completely dominant in a very small park”.
He said: “I do not understand why the Government have volunteered taxpayers’ money, when there is so little of it, to finance this.
“The Jewish community in Britain has an awful lot of money. It has a lot of education charities that would contribute towards this. I do not understand why they should not pay for their own memorial.”
Defending his stance at the time, he added: “I have plenty of Jewish blood, and I am a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel.”
Challenged by former Labour MP and non-affiliated peer Lord Austin of Dudley that the memorial was “for everybody”, not just the Jewish community, Lord Hamilton said: “I take that point, but the driving forces behind putting up this memorial are the Jewish people in this country.
“They are people who have property everywhere. I do not see why they should not fund it.”
He was also rebuked at the time by fellow Tory peer Lord Finkelstein, who said: “He cannot stand up here and say, ‘The Jews want the Holocaust memorial, and they ought to pay for it’.
“The Holocaust is not something that is just about the Jews.”
Addressing the chamber on Monday, Lord Hamilton said: “I rise to apologise unreservedly for the comments I made last week during the debate on the committee stage of the Holocaust Memorial Bill. I realise that what I said was grossly insensitive and I apologise to the committee and to the House.”
It is not the first time Lord Hamilton has been at the centre of controversy, having previously defended a party colleague for twice calling a British-Asian peer “Lord Poppadom” and claiming her subsequent suspension from the House for the offensive remark was a “miscarriage of justice”.
