Blake Stephenson, the MP for Mid Bedfordshire, told the Conservative party conference on Monday that Luton was "a very dangerous place" where some communities "live in ghettoes". "There are parts where white people won't go," he said. "They are like no-go zones." Stephenson lives in a village roughly 15 minutes from Luton.
His comments have been roundly condemned in the town, but they echo a longer-term far-right framing of Luton as a poster child for the supposed dangers of Islamism and multiculturalism.
In Bury Park, a predominantly Asian district of Luton, Tanner Ahmed, known as Mr T, runs a fish and chip shop on Dunstable Road, a thoroughfare lined with restaurants, jewellery stores and shops selling pakoras. He said the whole point of setting up the business was to cater for thousands of fans coming through each week, especially in the club's first year in the Premier League.
On the day after Stephenson's remarks, the street was a hub of activity, with shoppers of different races trundling trolleys through the car parks of nearby Sainsbury's and Lidl supermarkets.