Fiona Hill: People from the north still face discrimination

A former US presidential advisor says people from the north of England are still discriminated against because of their accent and where they live.

Fiona Hill, a Bishop Auckland miner's daughter, said there was a "geographic inequality" in politics and business.

Ms Hill said, in America, she was only judged as being British because they "didn't know what the accent meant".

Work to address diversity in the UK was looking at race and gender but not people from the regions, she said.

The 54-year-old, who became a US citizen in 2002, is an expert on the former Soviet Union and advised George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

Her role on Mr Trump's National Security Council in 2017 led to her testifying as part of his impeachment hearing in 2019, after which she received death threats.

Ms Hill said she had to modulate her speech to be understood in America and her accent was often commented upon, but not disparaged like it was in the UK.

President Trump called her "a deep state stiff - with a nice accent", she said.

"Even then, he's insulting me and he still has to say something about the accent - it's a nice accent but it's all about that accent," she said.

In the UK Ms Hill's accent was "always a point of conversation or a point of insult" with people surprised that someone from County Durham could have achieved what she had.

"Kids from the north, anywhere north of London, don't really get a chance with employers or they have to change their accent, they have to kind of conceal who they are to basically get ahead," she said.

She praised the success of stars such as Ant and Dec, Sting and Sam Fender but pointed out not everyone from the region wants to perform.

The attitude towards people from the north was exemplified in a report in 2020 saying Durham University students who came from the local area "felt that they were being discriminated against, people were making fun of them, people were disparaging them", Ms Hill said.

"This is decades later after I experienced the same thing," she said.

"I was called a common northerner and I mean - what - this is still happening? This is nuts."

The title of her book There's Nothing For You Here reflects advice given by Ms Hill's father in the 1980s.

"I didn't actually want to leave home and I would like it to be that, in County Durham and everywhere else, there's always something for someone there, so you don't feel you have to leave," she said.

She supports County Durham's bid to become City of Culture in 2025 because, although the north has made many efforts at local redevelopment, she said "it sometimes does need a kick start from the outside".

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