LONDON: A councilor for Britain’s Liberal Democrats has apologized after tweeting a photo of a plate of bacon in “solidarity” with Muslims fasting for Ramadan.
Ian Manning, a county councilor in Cambridgeshire, was taking part in a “Lib Dem iftar,” where he and other members of the party fasted with Muslims for one day on Saturday.
He tweeted a photo of a plate of bacon and three boiled eggs, captioning it: “Up early to start my fast for #LibDemIftar! Really not sure I’ll get through to the evening but we’ll see!”
Manning tagged the Muslim Council of Britain in the tweet. He deleted it and apologized after it was pointed out that Muslims do not eat pork.
“Re food photo earlier. Important point is the fast. Allergies mean choices limited,” he said in a later tweet. “This is a learning experience, and I’d prefer to be honest about it than not. Sorry if it caused offence. Also, it was 4am and I was half asleep.”
Manning later called his initial tweet “one of (his) finest moments of idiocy,” adding: “I just didn’t think actually.”
A party spokesman declined a request from Arab News for comment. But in a statement sent to Arab News, the Liberal Democrats’ acting leader Ed Davey said: “I want to send my best wishes to Muslims across Britain and the world in this holy month of Ramadan.”
The statement added: “With mosques remaining closed, this holy month will be particularly difficult. Liberal Democrats are determined to stand in solidarity with Britain’s Muslim communities and believe that together we can defeat this awful virus.”
