UK Treasury apology for racist e-mail
The Treasury apologised after a press officer e-mailed a racist joke denigrating Chinese to 82 newspaper journalists.
Junior press officer Robbie Browse accidentally e-mailed a message: Advantage of being Chinese. Attached was a file headed: 'This is brilliant!!' The e-mail contained a jumble of white squares, triangles and odd-shaped polygons on a black background.
Squinting at the illegible e-mail reveals the phrase 'No Sex Causes Bad Eyes'. Underneath the graphic are the words: 'If you cannot decipher anything, then try pulling the corner of your eyes as if you were Chinese. It works!'
Mr Browse realised his mistake and tried to recall his message.
'We are taking this incident extremely seriously and deeply regret any offence ... The incident is being investigated and appropriate action taken,' the Treasury said.
The Chinese embassy in London said it had no comment. The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office said: 'Since the Treasury has apologised and is investigating, we have no official comment.'
The Daily Mirror quoted a senior Treasury source, who described Mr Browse as 'a lovely guy'.
