The diverse race for No 10
Kemi, Rishi and Suella – the mix of candidates for UK prime minister has not happened by accident, writes William Booth.
In the race to become the next leader of the Conservative Party, and thus the next British prime minister, there is a Rishi, Suella and Kemi running against a Tom, Penny and Liz.
The Tory contestants are the most ethnically diverse in British history. It is a topic of pride, and some boasting, from party leaders, who seem almost giddy that their field is more diverse than previous contests within the opposition Labour Party, which still attracts most ethnic-minority voters.
Whether Britain is evolving into a ‘‘postracial’’ society, or remains mired in institutional racism and colonialist attitudes, is still a subject of debate, with evidence for all sides.
What’s clear is that this diverse field of candidates did not happen by accident. It’s the result of nearly two decades of political recruitment and promotion efforts.
British demographers have traditionally used a kind of clumsy term to describe nonwhites in Britain – BAME, for ‘‘Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic’’, a catchall that has come under considerable criticism.
The British population is predominantly white (87%), with the second and third largest racial groups Asian (6%) and black (3%). Four of the eight candidates who qualified for the leadership contest fall into the BAME category: Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch and Nadhim Zahawi. When the first-round votes were counted on Wednesday, Sunak was on top and Zahawi had been knocked out, along with Jeremy Hunt.
Two other prominent Tories with ethnic minority backgrounds – Priti Patel and Sajid Javid – decided last minute not to run.
Of those still in, all are squarely Conservative – though they differ somewhat on tax cuts and social spending. All three of the minority candidates voted for Brexit in 2016, despite a campaign propelled in large part by anti-immigrant sentiments. And all three chafe at identity politics.
Braverman, whose parents are of Indian origin, told Tory MPs and activists: ‘‘Don’t vote for me because I’m a woman. Don’t vote for me because I’m brown. Vote for me because I love this country and would do anything for it.’’
This field of candidates can trace its political origins to 2005 and the election of David Cameron as Conservative Party leader, after a general election drubbing by Labour. At the time, the party had only two minority MPs. In 2001, it had none.
‘‘Cameron was the modernising leader of the Conservatives, a party then seen as traditionalist and hidebound,’’ said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. ‘‘Essentially, he argued that the Tories needed to change their sales force.’’
In 2005, Cameron said he planned to ‘‘change the face of the Conservative Party by changing the faces of the Conservative Party’’. He understood that many first and second-generation immigrants were good targets for the party’s messaging: they ran small businesses and were family-focused, but wary of government and resistant to high taxes.
So he pushed his local associations to find and promote younger, more diverse candidates to stand in safe seats.
Labour still dominates as a votegetter among minorities. In the last general election in December 2019, age was the dominant predictor: older voters went for the Conservatives and younger voters for Labour. Defining support by race and ethnicity is hard in Britain, but survey group Ipsos Mori estimated that, in 2019, Labour attracted 64% of all black and minority ethnic voters, while 20% voted Tory and 12% Liberal Democrat.
Still, Conservatives note that they were the first party to see a woman, Margaret Thatcher, as prime minister, and then to promote another, Theresa May, to the highest office. Among the six candidates for the prime minister’s job are four women – and so the Tories could put a third woman in 10 Downing Street by September.
Outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson continued the diversity push, appointing what he called ‘‘a Cabinet for modern Britain’’. The Economist noted: ‘‘Boris Johnson is such a vivid embodiment of white privilege that it is easy to forget how diverse his Cabinet is.’’
Politics being politics, two of those diverse ministers – Sunak and Javid – initiated the Cabinet exodus that led to Johnson’s resignation announcement. And Sunak is one of the top contenders to replace his former boss. –