Ken Livingstone campaign has established an offshoot to win Muslim votes, called Muslims4Ken. Part of its effort is to smear Boris Johnson as a racist. They highlight a quote from Boris Johnson that "racism is natural". Politicians often complain about their comments being taken out of context but this example is particularly outrageous. The full quote is:
"It is common ground among both right-wingers and left-wingers that racism is 'natural', in that it seems to arise organically, in all civilisations. It is as natural as sewage. We all agree that it is disgusting, a byproduct of humanity's imperfect evolution. The question is, what to do with the effluent?"
Not quite an endorsement of racism, is it? The Muslims4Ken website goes on, in their section, headed "Boris Johnson in his own words" to include the quote: "Black people have lower IQs." But they are not his own words. They were the words of Taki Theodoracopulos. A lie is half way around the word before the truth has got its boots on.
