Broadcaster Lorraine Kelly has faced criticism for her recent comment likening lengthy post-Brexit passport queues to feeling like an “untermensch.”
During an interview with Hugo Rifkind on Times Radio, the ITV star recounted nearly missing a flight due to extended queues caused by the inability of British travelers to use EU passport gates. Describing her experience returning from Scotland’s World Cup match in Germany, Kelly said, “We nearly missed our flights because they had all this … kind of segregation … and you feel like some kind of like untermensch … you’re standing in this other queue for ages and then you have to go up to a different place to get your passport looked at and all the rest of it.”
The term "untermensch," meaning “sub-humans,” was infamously used by the Nazis to describe groups they considered “undesirable,” including Jews. Lord Wolfson, a Conservative former justice minister who is Jewish, expressed outrage at Kelly’s remarks.
He posted on X/Twitter, “A few generations back, my family knew what it was to be treated as an ‘untermensch’. And they also had to stand in long queues. But not for passports. Yes, you ought to ‘feel embarrassed."
* The Jewish Chronicle contributed to this article.