Following the resignation of Boris Johnson, it seems that ‘progressives’ are in full meltdown.
Why? A number of the candidates for new Tory leader and PM are from ethnic minority backgrounds. To the extent that Twitter is a proxy for the opinion of the commentariat, none seems to have attracted as much ire as Kemi Badenoch.
Not only is she the only black woman seeking to be prime minister of a western nation, but she may also well have a better chance of achieving it within the Tory Party than any other. A red rag to a bull!
Progressives have long suffered a form of acute political hypochondria where they see bigotry everywhere. Not only does this simply misunderstand the nature of the Tory party (see below) but it also insults the tolerance and goodwill of the vast majority of Britain’s diverse population, and this is something that Ms Badenoch seems to instinctively understand.
It is noticeable that current Tory frontrunner, Rishi Sunak, makes a great play on his immigrant background in his rapidly released and highly polished campaign video.
In contrast, Ms Badenoch’s pitch for leadership in today’s Times does not weaponise her ethnicity to boost her credibility in the race for Tory frontrunner. Instead, she calls out the divisiveness of identity politics: “our country is falsely criticised as oppressive to minorities and immoral because it enforces its own borders. We cannot maintain a cohesive nation-state with the zero-sum identity politics we see today.”
This recognises long-term trends in the UK, and Ms Badenoch is savvy to capitalise on that.
For example, in 2019, the European Union conducted one of the most extensive surveys across the European continent. Its report, Discrimination in the European Union, showed that the United Kingdom is one of the least racist societies in Europe; a continent already characterised by anti-discrimination laws and anti-racist norms.
On working with a colleague from different ethnicity, 89 per cent of the British population were comfortable, with 5 per cent either indifferent or did not know. Italy, a mature and developed European democracy stood at 56 per cent. On being comfortable with the highest political position in the land occupied by somebody from a different ethnic origin or skin colour, the UK scored highest with 88 per cent. Perhaps of more import, and illustrative of how deep anti-discrimination norms have become embedded in British society, 86 per cent of British respondents reported that they would be comfortable with their children being in a loving relationship with a black person. This is reflected in the data. The last British census in 2011 showed that 2 per cent of the British population were mixed-race; double from the 2001 census. Research by Alita Nandi and Lucinda Platt suggests the actual figure could be three times as high. If correct, mixed-race people are a more significant proportion of the population than any other minority ethnic group.
More recent polling by ICM Unlimited in January 2021 found that 62 per cent of black British people considered their British national identity to be important — only marginally lower than the more comprehensive general population figure of 64 per cent.
The British Police Service is one of Britain's most vilified public institutions. However, the Police Service enjoys overwhelming support from ethnic minorities. ONS data shows that the UK’s Chinese, Bangladeshi, Indian and black African demographic have a higher level of confidence in their local police force in 2019 than white British people, at over 75 per cent.
A candidate that recognises the rich diversity of the UK, can take a stand against the groundhog days of the endless grievance culture wars, and tap into the tolerance, goodwill and patriotism of ordinary Brits from all walks of life will do very well. The decline of racism in the UK is a good news story, and Ms Badenoch seems very well placed to communicate that.
It’s far too early to call of course, but so far she’s off to a strong start.
☀️Sceptics
Mr Young says that Kemi Bedinoch is a “smart, hardworking, courageous and properly conservative” the first three adjectives I can see are spot on however when I went through her work there is this; which does not fit my criteria of what I understand as conservative, but in fact very ‘woke’ damagingly so.!
She was “ delighted to announce that you can now apply on line for a Gender Recognition Certificate, just in time for # pride month” .
Gender ideology is NOT conservative! It is acnon scientific construct pushed through by people like Stonewall who have a political ideology opposite to Conservative. I see many confused, unhappy, damaged young people in my job due to this anti family, anti scientific agenda, very politically motivated agenda.
Therefore even if she is the best of a bad bunch, I cannot therefore vote conservative unless she exposes gender politics for the scientific imposter that it is. Denounces the entirety of lockdowns, vaccine passports coercion, closes our boarders, stops pride from being a month, a day suffices, demolishes completely gender ideology, race baiting, and banishes the WEF from interference in our sovereign affairs. And please less government totalitarian diktat.
My conclusion is that it looks like I will have nobody to vote for in the next election 🗳 like many ! So there will be a labour coalition and so be it, as parliament is really the Uni-Looney-Party all the same. I will not vote and not save the Conservative party in their present state!