NICOLA Sturgeon has deleted a tweet wrongly describing Rishi Sunak as the UK's first ethnic minority Prime Minister.
Taking to Twitter shortly after it was confirmed that the former chancellor would replace Liz Truss as the Tory leader, the First Minister said: "Congratulations to Rishi Sunak - I wish him well and, notwithstanding our political differences, will do my best to build a constructive working relationship with him in the interests of those we serve.
"That he becomes the first British Asian - indeed the first from any minority ethnic background - to become PM is a genuinely significant moment. It certainly makes this a special Diwali."
However, that tweet was criticised by journalist Benjamin Cohen. He tweeted: "Sorry Nicola but Benjamin Disraeli was a Jew. Jews are an ethnic minority too. He was baptised as a Christian but this doesn’t wipe out his ethnic heritage."
Sorry Nicola but Benjamin Disraeli was a Jew. Jews are an ethnic minority too. He was baptised as a Christian but this doesn’t wipe out his ethnic heritage.1 https://t.co/SrDRwX5lZC
— Benjamin Cohen (@benjamincohen) October 24, 2022
He later tweeted: "It’s certainly the case that Britain has its first PM of Asian/ Indian heritage but can politicians and media not describe him as the 'first ethnic minority PM'? This was Benjamin Disraeli in 1874. Jews count too. He was also the first ethnic minority Chancellor."
The First Minister said that was correct and amended her tweet to read: That he becomes the first British Asian to become PM is a genuinely significant moment. It certainly makes this a special #Diwali."
The SNP leader was not the only one to make the mistake.
Former Tory MP Gavin Barwell tweeted: "Putting party politics aside for a second, having our first prime minister from an ethnic minority background is a big moment for this country."
The journalist Tanya Gold replied: "Benjamin Disraeli essentially founded your party."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel