BARRED: Beer in honour of Britannia Coconut Dancers rejected in House of Commons
A BAR in the House of Commons refused to serve beer featuring the black faces of the Britannia Coconut Dancers.
Darwen and Rossendale MP Jake Berry was invited to put forward a guest ale in the Strangers Bar in the Palace of Westminister.
But parliamentary chiefs threw out the pale ale which had been specially crafted by a multi award-winning Rossendale brewery, saying the imagery ‘may have caused offence.’
MPs and local politicians slammed the decision, saying it ‘favours political correctness over common sense’.
The Coconutters have hit out, saying their traditional black make-up and colourful costumes are a celebration of Lancashire’s mining heritage, and have ‘no racial element whatsoever’.
It comes days after Will Straw, son of Blackburn MP Jack, was embroiled in a Twitter storm after posting a picture of himself with the morris dancing troupe.
Joe Healey, Coconutters secretary, called the decision ‘a real sad shame’.
He said: “I don’t understand the furore. Some people make caustic comments without understanding the tradition.
“After recent comments made about us, I felt compelled to go back through our history, and there is no racial element whatsoever. There is no mention of race or ethnicity.
Taken from: http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11187686.BARRED__Beer_in_honour_of_Britannia_Coconut_Dancers_rejected_in_House_of_Commons/
