Tories twice as likely as Labour voters to think golli***s are acceptable, poll shows

Conservative voters are over twice as likely as Labour supporters to think displaying golli*** dolls is acceptable, new polling shows.

Research carried out after the home secretary criticised police for seizing an Essex pub’s collection of toys indicates significant divides in opinion between different political groups and age brackets.

Overall, 39 per cent of Brits said they thought it was acceptable to sell or display a golli***, while 34 per cent said it was not and 27 per cent didn’t know.

But when broken down by political group, Conservative and pro-Brexit Leave voters were the most likely groups to say the dolls were acceptable, at 60 per cent and 62 per cent respectively.

Only a quarter of Labour voters, 30 per cent of Lib Dems and 27 per cent of Remainers agreed, and over-50s were far more likely to find the dolls acceptable than younger people.

Asked if it was racist to sell or display the dolls, 27 per cent of Brits overall said it was but almost half thought it would not be racist and another quarter said they did not know.

Only 13 per cent of people who backed the Conservatives in the 2019 general election, and the same proportion of Leave voters, said the dolls were racist – compared to almost half of Labour voters and 37 per cent of Lib Dems.

The polling suggested that many under-25s may not know what golli***s are, with around half selecting “don’t know” as the answer to both questions.

They are based on a fictional character that appeared in children’s books in the late 19th century and became popular in Britain in the 1970s, but are now widely regarded as a racist caricature of Black people.

A collection of the dolls was seized by Essex Police from The White Hart in Grays last week, as part of an ongoing hate crime investigation.

The operation sparked an intervention by Suella Braverman, whose staff contacted the force over the probe as a Home Office source said that “police forces should not be getting involved in this kind of nonsense”.

Essex Police said it had received a hate crime allegation on 24 February and was investigating under both the Public Order Act and Crime and Disorder Act.

“We have regularly discussed the progression of this case with the Crown Prosecution Service and on 4 April, five officers visited a location off Argent Street, Grays, and seized several items in connection with that investigation,” a statement added.

“We maintain operational independence from the Home Office, which ensures that every investigation is carried out without fear or favour.”

The pub’s landlords had refused to remove the dolls from display after a formal request made by the council in 2018, and online reviews have reported their presence for several years.

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said it was “baffled” by The White Hart’s use of golli***s on Wednesday, after it emerged that its local branch had given it numerous “pub of the year” awards.

A spokesperson said: “Camra believes pubs should be welcoming and inclusive places and it's baffling that any pub would choose to discriminate against customers or potential customers by continuing to display offensive material.

“We have had clear national guidelines in place since 2018 that no pub should be considered for an award if it displays offensive or discriminatory material on the premises, or on social media associated with the pub.”

The organisation accused its southwest Essex branch of “ignoring” guidance and allowing an entry on Camra’s Whatpub database to “make light of the offensive nature of the materials displayed”.

The pub’s landlords have defended the dolls and vowed to continue to display them, demanding police return their collection.

Chris Ryley previously posted several photos of the golli***s on his Facebook page, including some hanging from a wooden beam.

“We have our golliwogs, yaaay,” he wrote in a caption in March 2016. When his wife commented asking if the post was “legal lol [laugh out loud]”, Mr Ryley replied: “They used to hang them in Mississippi years ago.”

He has also shared several propaganda images created by the white nationalist Generation Identity group, been pictured wearing Britain First merchandise and shared videos claiming that “indigenous white Brits” are becoming a minority in the UK.

Mr Ryley has not responded to The Independent’s request for comment but his wife, Benice Ryley, said they were not racist and the golli***s were “just dolls”.

“I can assure you that my husband and I are not racist at all,” she told The Independent. “We do Indian weddings, we have many cultures come into our pub and none of them would ever say we’re rude to them or anything like that, we welcome them all. To me we are all people and my husband feels the same.”

YouGov surveyed a representative sample of 3,091 adults in Britain on 11 April