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Midland Heart suspends chair Lord Ian Austin after social media backlash
Midland Heart has suspended its chair Lord Ian Austin following a post on social media in which he described “Islamist rapists and murderers” following heavy criticism and calls for his resignation.
The Birmingham-based social landlord said Lord Austin has been suspended from his duties, while a meeting has been arranged for 14 days time, “in line with rules of the association, to discuss his removal from the board”.
In an email sent to staff and seen by Inside Housing, Glenn Harris, chief executive at Midland Heart, said that “given the impact this has had on the reputation of our organisation and the upset it has caused, especially to our colleagues, the board unanimously feel this is the only course of action”.
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In the post on X (formerly known as Twitter), which has since been deleted, Lord Austin said: “Everyone, better safe than sorry: before you go to bed, nip down and check you haven’t inadvertently got a death cult of Islamist murderers and rapists running their operations downstairs. It’s easily done.”
Inside Housing reported the incident earlier today.
Lord Austin, a former housing minister, later said the comments referred to the terrorist group Hamas.
They were made after Israel had implied that Hamas was carrying out operations under UNRWA’s abandoned headquarters in Gaza. The aid agency, which supports Palestinian refugees, refuted any knowledge of this.
Following complaints about his use of language, Lord Austin posted on X: “People have complained about a tweet I issued at the weekend about Hamas’ operations centre being underneath UNRWA’s offices.
“It was not my intention to offend anyone and I have deleted it. As I have written and said many times – including in a national newspaper today – the vast majority of Muslims are just as appalled by racism and terrorism as everyone else.”
But there was significant criticism of the post, described as “vile” by housing activist Kwajo Tweneboa, while former Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) president Lara Oyedele called for Lord Austin’s resignation. Staff have also said they are “sickened” by the situation.
Midland Heart, which did not immediately take action, responded initially by saying that Lord Austin “has since clarified the points made in this tweet and deleted the post”.
However, today Mr Harris said in the letter to staff: “I am writing to update on our response to our chair’s social media post.
“The post resulted in a lot of people contacting Lord Austin directly and us as an organisation to share how unhappy they were with a post and, in some cases, deeply offended.
“Our board met within 24 hours of this contact to discuss it and have agreed to suspend Lord Austin.
“A meeting to discuss Lord Austin’s future has been arranged for 14 days’ time in line with our board process.
“Given the impact this has had on the reputation of our organisation and the upset it has caused, especially to our colleagues, the board unanimously feel this is the only course of action.
“I am sorry to any colleagues who were offended by the post and can assure you that this was done by Lord Austin in a personal capacity and is not endorsed by Midland Hart, or our board in any way.”
Llewellyn Graham, senior independent director at Midland Heart and chief executive of Nehemiah Housing, will assume the role of chair during the two weeks.
Mr Harris added: “It is important to note that I truly believe that Lord Austin did not mean any offence by the post.
“However, this does not make it OK, nor does it stop it offending people. We all have a responsibility to think through how we communicate our views and feelings, especially on sensitive issues.”
Lord Austin has been contacted for a comment on his suspension.
