Published: 21 January, 2014
by PAVAN AMARA and RICHARD OSLEY

THE Conservative council election candidate whose comments in a New Journal interview about race went viral across the internet has apologised for his "clumsy" choice of words.

Edward De Mesquita, who has run the crêpe stall in Hampstead High Street for 34 years, said he was "horrified" at how he had come across, explaining that he was not "media-savvy" like other candidates.

In his first interview about his campaign to win a seat at the Town Hall, he had brought up the subject of race and his frustration that when he had started going door to door in West Hampstead people had accused the Tories of having racist policies.

"One thing I have become very sensitive about is this accusation that Conservatives are somehow racist,” Mr De Mesquita had said.

“Conservatives are not racist. So many of the Conservatives have foreign wives, after all. Many of the racists in this area are old people or less privileged people. How could I be racist? I have a Chinese girlfriend. Most of the girlfriends I’ve had have been very international. I tend to go for non-white women."

He added in the interview: "We have got whatever they have got, if they [Labour] have a Bangladeshi woman then we could get a Bangladeshi woman. In fact, I met one the other day. She was very bright, and I said: ‘You should get into politics and go against Tulip Siddiq [Labour councillor and general election candidate]."

The article was shared thousands of times on Twitter and Facebook, including by Ms Siddiq, who asked her online followers whether the interview was "hilarious or frightening?". It is understood some local Conservative organisers were left frustrated at how the story of a well-known local businessman kicking off his election campaign had unexpectedly turned into a conversation about race.

In a letter to be published in Thursday's New Journal, Mr De Mesquita writes: "When I read your report of the interview with me last week, I was horrified at how I came across. I do believe that the point that I tried to express in my own clumsy way – that neither I, nor the Conservative Party as a whole, is racist – is true. I am of Jewish origin, named after a Dutch great-uncle who died in the camps during the war, and I am passionately anti-racist." 

He adds: "Reading the article, though, I can really see that the words that I used weren’t the right ones. As a crêpe stall owner, I am perhaps not in the normal run of media-savvy candidates. I hope your readers will be able to see beyond my crass turn of phrase and we can move on to the important local issues, such as school places and over-development. I also hope that I have not caused any offence; if I have I am most sincerely sorry."