‘DON’T LET RACISM DERAIL SUNAK BID’
As the leadership contest gathers pace, Asian Tories plead…
A MINORITY of racists among Conservative party members could stop Rishi Sunak from becoming the UK’s first non-white prime minister, senior Asian Tories have told Eastern Eye.
They are concerned that Britain is “not ready to take orders from a brown boy”, and have urged their party to choose the next prime minister based on their policies rather than their race.
“There are always 10 to 15 per cent in society who aren’t ready to be led by someone who is black or brown,” said one Asian Tory parliamentarian.
“That proportion is what we would call racist in any other context.
“The party reflects society, and so they will be members who could decide the fate of our country.”
The Conservatives, once dubbed “the nasty party” by former prime minister Theresa May, has worked hard to attract people of colour. It has elected two female leaders and is the closest among mainstream political parties to put a south Asian at its helm.
But that does not mean the party is free from problems concerning race, said one source.
“If you look at Rishi’s credentials – head boy at Winchester, Oxford and then Stanford – he’s the archetypal establishment figure.
“But he faces the problem of having to appeal to a minority electorate who still mistrust him on issues such as immigration. Many members want somebody who is not going to be soft on immigration, and Rishi is probably having to overcompensate just to prove that he can be trusted.”
Prime minister Boris Johnson’s various cabinets, described as the most racially diverse in UK political history, and the leadership election among MPs have shown how colour appeared to no longer matter in the party.
Even so, Westminster sources said the Tories still had some way to go.
“One of the challenges there has been in politics – and it is a huge problem for the Conservative party – is how do you accept people of colour, from different communities, as being representative of them,” said another senior Asian insider. “It’s about accepting an individual from a different community and accepting that you can take orders from brown and black people. So, that remains a challenge.”
In the past Baroness Sayeeda Warsi accused her party of Islamophobia.
That led to former health secretary, Sajid Javid, during the 2019 leadership battle, getting a commitment from the party to investigate the allegations.
An enquiry by Professor Swaran Singh last year found “anti-Muslim sentiment remains a problem within the party”.
But the former equality and human rights commissioner concluded there was “no evidence” of institutional racism – something Warsi has never accepted.
“We have come a long way, and this proved that the party is not institutionally racist,” said one Asian Tory Westminster source. “Every party has problems. Look at Labour and anti-Semitism. We need to move on, otherwise Asians will always be seen as blaming race when they don’t get their way.”
In January, MP Nusrat Ghani caused ructions when she revealed that she was sacked as transport minister because of her “Muslimness”.
She remains the party’s first Muslim female MP and minister.
Speaking to Eastern Eye, Ghani said she was chosen in one of the whitest constituencies, Wealden in east Sussex, because she was “a campaigner” and “they [the selection committee] didn’t want a professional politician”.
She revealed that a couple of Conservative members resigned when they realised she was a Muslim.
But Ghani stressed that she felt incredibly supported by her constituency party and her “fantastic association chair, Daphne [Bagshawe]”.
“What I can tell you is any feedback I’m getting from members is fundamentally on policy, where people stand on the economy and what they think each of the person are going to bring,” said Ghani.
“That’s the reality of Conservative politics because it is always much more about the ideology of the individual.
“It can’t be racist because we’ve had candidates for the leadership election of all colours. We’ve had Nadhim [Zahawi], Kwasi [Kwarteng], we’ve had Rishi, and we’ve had Kemi [Badenoch].
“The question isn’t about the Conservative party, it will be about the Labour party, and what stops people from different backgrounds coming forward.”
But that is not what some close to the grassroots have told Eastern Eye.
“If you speak to Asian candidates who go for selection to stand as MPs, they face bigger hurdles than white candidates,” one party member said.
“What they want is someone who looks and sounds like their previous MP. If they were white, you don’t stand a chance.
“In the feedback, they tell you how close it was and how well you did, but there’s always an excuse, which isn’t always believable. But you accept it because you don’t want to rock the boat or harm your chances next time.”
Parliamentary and grassroots members have repeatedly told Eastern Eye that things have improved, and the problem is because the party recruits from society, a fraction of whom have racist views. This is borne out in a recent survey by the thinktank, British Future.
It asked whether Britain was right to accept 30,000 Ugandan Asians expelled by the dictator Idi Amin, 50 years ago.
Despite the migrants’ economic and cultural contribution to UK life, 13 per cent said it was a wrong decision.
“What the survey shows is a quarter of people in this country broadly, their position is kind of shut the borders or have as little immigration as possible,” said British Future’s director, Sunder Katwala.
“There is a hard core – which used to be more like 10 per cent, and is probably five to 10 per cent – who are quite happy to be overtly racist.
“There are people who don’t feel the need to adopt to the norms of society now, and that 13 per cent fits with that.
So, while some people might be inclined to go with the norm, other people might be sticking two fingers up and saying, ‘I know what you want. I know what you think the answer is, but I’m really grumpy, I’m really unhappy, give me my country back’
“They would still have had quite a lot of support in the 1980s and 1990s, but it is the fringe now.”
One of the biggest issues is that Sunak has had to prove his Tory credentials by moving to the right, said some insiders.
“Look at the way he’s had to make fun of his skin colour by saying how people have complimented him about his tan,” said one person who admitted they felt let down by Sunak.
“He’s had to move to the right and join in with others who see questioning of Tory beliefs as an attack by the left and the ‘woke culture’.
“And Rishi’s definitely had to prove he won’t let thousands of immigrants into Britain. That shift to the right isn’t him, but he’s saying it because that’s what the party faithful expect and want.”
Another source said it was because, even in modern Britain, people of colour had to be “whiter than white”
“This is about not scaring people inside the party,” said one parliamentarian.
“The problem with us Asians is once we get into a place, whether it’s a party or institution, our survival mechanism kicks in.
“We know that to be accepted we have to prove we are tougher on crime, more Conservative on immigration, and we simply cannot afford to be different. “We’re judged the moment we are seen, and our skin colour means we have to prove ourselves over and over again, and we can’t put a foot wrong.
“We are held to a higher standard because if we do something wrong, [they say] it’s because we are brown.
“In dark corners we may admit to ourselves that we’ve had to change, betray our core beliefs, to survive and progress, but we’ll never admit it to anyone, and never in public.”
This did not surprise award-winning author, journalist and columnist for the i-newspaper, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.
She said, “He [Sunak] is absolutely pandering to the right. The more extreme things he’s saying are appalling. He’s saying he would like to send people like me to Prevent [a government programme to tackle radicalisation] so we don’t criticise this country. That’s so extreme.
“The thing I worry about is when he says, ‘I diverted money away from the urban deprived centres’.
“He has never known poverty, his heart is always going to be with the privileged, and I find that very problematic.
“I think race is playing a part in this. He may not want to believe it, but many posh Asian people think once they have crossed a certain border of wealth, that race doesn’t matter.
“Well, race always matters. Look how they [minorities] are treated – Meghan Markle, for God’s sake. I think he still believes strongly that I, Rishi Sunak, am not seen as a brown man, and that’s fatal.”
The Conservative party does not publish how many members it has. Political experts put the figure at 160,000, and they will decide the fate of the country.
Those who have spoken to Eastern Eye said things are changing, but it will not come in time for Sunak.
“We can’t always be our authentic selves,” said one Asian parliamentarian.
“The only way he gets the leadership and becomes prime minister is if Liz [Truss] slips up or continues to make unforced errors. She obviously made one last week around regional pay.
“If there is something more that could shift the mood, then it could pave the way for Rishi.”
Whatever happens, said the source, if there is no clear winner, then it spells problems for their party over the next two years, ahead of a general election.
“Rishi’s unlikely to romp home – it’s more likely 51 or 52 per cent, if he’s lucky.
“That doesn’t bode well for governing smoothly, not least against the backdrop of the biggest cost-of-living crisis since Gordon Brown’s time as prime minister.
“Whoever wins this will have a real poisoned chalice.”