Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the deletion from Twitter by the Ministry of Defence of an Army photograph showing a soldier wearing black camouflage cream, what assessment they have made of the extent to which such photographs are racist.

The tweet from 19 October included a photograph of a soldier from the Irish Guards practising camouflage and concealment measures during standard jungle training in Belize. We do not consider these types of photographs to be racist.

We can see, however, how the tweet consisting of both the photograph and caption may have been misinterpreted. It was immediately removed, and the Department subsequently released an apology for any offence that may have been caused.