Ben Goldsmith, pictured with his wife Jemima Jones, has apologised for his angry tweet
The millionaire brother of Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith has been mocked for blaming rush-hour London Underground chaos on immigration in an angry tweet.
Ben Goldsmith found himself waiting on a packed platform for a Victoria Line train towards Brixton as commuters faced delays due to a faulty train.
But the 38-year-old Government adviser and financier was slammed for ‘racism’ and ‘dog-whistle politics’ after claiming ‘open borders’ had caused the problems.
He said: ‘It’s really easy to advocate for open borders and a swelling population in England when you’re on you’re a*** at home in North London all day.
‘The open borders people should be asked to take the appallingly crowded Victoria Line into Central London every morning for a week.’
The tweet immediately attracted scorn online, with David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham in North London, telling him: ‘Ben, it’s rush hour.
‘Go to New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Moscow, Istanbul or Dhaka at nine in the morning and find me an empty carriage. London is very clear: we value immigration and celebrate diversity. If you want a quiet commute, try the Highlands.’
Mr Goldsmith’s now-deleted post claimed ‘open borders’ had caused the Tube problems
Mr Goldsmith later deleted the tweet and wrote an apology, saying he had been ‘grumpy’
Food critic Jay Rayner added: ‘That would be Ben Goldsmith, son of a man born in Paris, from a Jewish family which, like mine, had to be allowed in to a country that had always welcomed immigrants for the value they brought to society.
‘Plus rush hour has always looked like that. (I live on the Victoria Line)’.
Mr Goldsmith later deleted the tweet, saying: ‘Some people have commented on a tweet I sent earlier today while grumpy on an overcrowded Tube train.
‘I apologise for the offence caused to those people and I have removed the tweet.’
Mr Goldsmith, seen at his wife’s book launch at 5 Hertford Street in London’s Mayfair in April
Others pointed out that people from ethnic minorities were at the front of the image.
Mr Goldsmith married Kate Rothschild in Suffolk in 2003, but they later divorced
Journalist and TV pundit Shebab Khan said: ‘Zac Goldsmith’s brother used a picture of some brown people commuting during rush hour as a reason to call for clampdown on immigration i.e: ‘I didn’t get a seat on the train this morning, so it’s time for immigrants to p*** off.”
And journalist Hussein Kesvani added: ‘Just wanted to say that it’s incredibly normal to take pictures of non white people taking public transport to make this point.’
Services on the line were operating with minor delays due to a faulty train at Euston yesterday, according to Transport for London.
Mr Goldsmith, who is married to former model Jemima Jones, is the son of late tycoon James Goldsmith and runs an investment trust.
He used to be married to the heiress Kate Rothschild, before they split in 2012 after it was revealed she had been seeing the US rapper Jay Electronica.