£5,000 is not enough money for Black History Month in Harrow, according to dozens of black activists in the borough.

According to a local newspaper, a “barrage of questions were fired at a senior councillor over Harrow’s lack of funding for Black History Month at a public meeting last week.”

The outburst came during a full cabinet meeting of Harrow Council at the Civic Centre last Thursday when, according to the local paper, “members of Harrow’s black community directed their annoyance at councillor Jean Lammiman.

“Harrow resident Simon Jerome asked Mrs Lammiman, who is responsible for community and cultural services, whether she thought the confusion showed ‘a lack of understanding for the need of Black History Month (BHM) to be celebrated and the lack of respect the council has for the black community in Harrow.’”

Councillor Lammiman, a Tory, read from a prepared statement in response: “Black History Month is a very important issue to me, please don’t read in to it that I don’t care because I pledge my support absolutely to the community in Harrow.”

The budget for Black History Month is £5,000 this year, Cllr Lammiman reported. “This is five times the amount for any other single group, despite an extremely difficult financial climate.

“We have no plans to reduce the budget for BHM and we are setting up a review meeting on Thursday December 10, so we can discuss with organisations as to how they can be involved next year,” the Tory councillor said.

A thorough search of the Harrow Council’s web site did not reveal any grants or projects for British history, British people or anything to do with the indigenous population of these islands.

Furthermore, the Conservative Party’s commitment to Black History Month and their refusal to have anything to do with British history is yet another indicator of the true political direction of that party.