Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's urbane Oxford-educated foreign minister, faces one of his less comfortable public appearances today when he speaks to the Atlantic Council in Washington on "a European perspective on the Barack Obama promise".

It is awkward because this month he made what appeared to be a racist joke about the US president-elect.

Poland's foreign minister jokes that Barack Obama's grandfather was a 'cannibal'
 

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:56 PM on 18th November 2008

Poland has conceded that its foreign minister Radek Sikorski made a jibe about U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's grandparents being cannibals.

Mr Sikorski, an Oxford-educated politician who has lived in the U.S. was reported as making the joke on the blog site of opposition politician, Ryszard Czarnecki.

Mr Czarnecki, a Member of the European Parliament, quoted the foreign minister as saying:  'Have you heard that Obama may have a Polish connection? His grandfather ate a Polish missionary.'

 

Racist jibe: Poland's foreign office says Radek Sikorski (left) did not mean to be racist when he joked that Mr Obama's grandfather was a cannibal

A spokesman for the Poland foreign office confirmed that Mr Sikorski did make the controversial comment, however denied that he had intended to insult Mr Obama, whose father is Kenyan.

'Mr Sikorski did not tell a racist joke,' Piotr Paszkowski, the spokesman, told the Daily Telegraph.
 

'He was only giving an example of the unpalatable and racist "jokes" that surround President Elect Obama.'

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has remained silent on the affair, which could potentially strain relations between Warsaw and Washington.

But opposition politicians have called on Mr Sikorski to be investigated for breaking anti-racism laws.

Some Polish politicans say they first heard the derogatory comment coming from Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a Right-wing former prime minister and twin brother of the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski.

It's not the first time Poland has been left cringing over a diplomatic blunder.

In his three years as head of state, President Lech Kaczynski has made protocol blunders, raising eyebrows in the carefully choreographed world of foreign diplomacy.

One high-profile stumble came just days after Mr Obama was elected president.

Mr Kaczynski's office issued a statement saying the president-elect promised him, during a phone call, to stick by George Bush's controversial plans to build a missile defense site in Poland.

Very quickly, an Obama adviser said the future president made no such promise, forcing Kaczynski's aides into a humiliating backtrack.

Mr Sikorski stepped in to complain that his President had caused a diplomatic embarrassment for the country.

'We shouldn't be overzealous and put words into the mouth of the president-elect that he didn't say,' he said.