On Saturday November 7^th, Biden and Harris became the President-elect and Vice President-elect after four days of ballot counting. Harris broke numerous barriers as the first biracial, black, Asian-American female to be elected to the office of Vice President. She is an American citizen, born in Oakland, California, to immigrant parents. Her mother is Indian and her father is Jamaican. On November 9^th, Kilclooney tweeted, “What happens if Biden moves on and the Indian becomes President. Who then becomes Vice President?” The Lord Speaker later requested that Kilclooney “retracted and apologize”. Kilclooney complied and withdrew the tweet.

Kilclooney has yet to apologize and has even gone on to claim that his tweet was not racist. “Whilst Biden is proud to be Irish and Harris is rightly proud of her Indian background I certainly withdraw my reference to her as an Indian as it seems to have upset some people,” Kilclooney tweeted later that afternoon. “I did not know her name and identified her with the term Indian. Most people understood. Racist NO.”

Several members of Parliament have stated Kilclooney’s tweet was indeed racist and have filed complaints with the Lord Speaker’s office. Stormont’s First Minister Arlene Foster tweeted, “identifying a person by their race is offensive.” Baroness Smith, Labour’s leader in the House of Lords, said “it is despicable and beneath contempt and totally unacceptable from anyone – but especially from someone in the Parliament.” Conservative MP Simon Hoare, chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, had also submitted a formal complaint. He went on to describe the tweet as “Bad. Rude. Racist. Appalling.” Lord Speaker Lord Fowler responded to the complaints saying “Lord Kilclooney should retract and apologize. This is an offensive way to refer to anyone let alone a woman who has just made history. The comment is entirely unacceptable and has no place in British politics. I could not be clearer.”

As outrage continued to spark over the tweet, Kilclooney attempted to further clarify by saying, “The first thing is to get it in perspective, the criticism is minor, the support is massive – I’ve never had so many twitter followers in one day, ever. I’m very fond of India myself, I’m a member of the British India all-party group, I have two Indians (tenants) in my flats here in London and there’s nothing racist in it whatsoever. She’s proud of her Indian roots just as Biden’s proud to say he’s Irish.” This isn’t the first time Kilclooney has been subject to controversy. In 2018, he referred to the then Irish PM (Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar as a “typical Indian”. He later went on to admit that comment was a mistake.

Despite his repeated attempts to defend his remarks, criticism of the Lord has both grown in the UK and in other areas. Jon Wolfsthal, a former special advisor to Joe Biden, said Kilclooney “should be ashamed” and went on to remind the peer that Vice President-elect is an American citizen. Steve Aiken, Ulster Unionist Party leader, referred to the comment as “reprehensible.” “This isn’t the first time he has done something like this, but it should be the last,” he said. North Down MP Stephan Farry referred to the tweet as “ disgusting and racist.” SDLP assembly member Daniel McCrossan referred to the peer as “a disgrace.” Labour MP Wes Streeting said, “this sort of racism would be unacceptable from anyone, but from a member of the House of Lords it beggars belief. Action must be taken.”