Mixed-race civil servant: I was called racist after challenging barrage of ‘unconscious bias’ emails
A CIVIL servant has hit out at woke Whitehall after an NHS quango urged staff to attend unconsciousbias training sessions over Zoom.
Andrew Scarborough, 36, who is mixed race, fears the obsession of his employer NHS Health Education England (HEE) with politically correct causes such as ‘white privilege’ and ‘toxic positivity’ distracts workers from doing their jobs.
The project support administrator – who is still being asked to work from home along with his colleagues, despite the Government urging people to return to their desks – said he found it increasingly difficult to carry out his duties due to the barrage of woke emails and bulletins received almost daily from his bosses.
When he queried the quango’s ‘political’ messaging, he claims he was reprimanded and called a racist. He decided to speak out when HEE, which gets £4billion of taxpayer cash each year to support NHS training and skills development, invited staff to a virtual ‘white privilege’ course to address ‘unconscious bias’ and ‘white fragility’. The four-and-a-half-hour event costs £141 a head. ‘There’s constantly this dialogue on diversity and inclusion over anything else,’ said Mr Scarborough, whose grandfather was from Somalia. ‘It’s difficult to see the aims of the organisation because the business and health conversations are being sidelined for dialogue on being a race ally or a non-binary ally.
‘It’s very divisive language and I know it makes people uncomfortable because they’ve spoken to me about it. I don’t think the organisation is racist, but we’re constantly told we are. I don’t think I would have spoken up about this if I didn’t have a mixed race background.’
Mr Scarborough has been deluged with invitations to woke webinars. One said it would allow him to ‘reach beyond a safe space towards a brave space’ where he can understand white privilege. Another espoused the benefits of unconscious bias training, despite the Government deciding it had little value and scrapping it in 2020.
Mr Scarborough said he clashed with colleagues last year. Asked to share his insight about being a mixed-race man in Britain, he said his experience had been positive and the country had made much progress in tackling racism.
He added: ‘But I was called racist ... I don’t feel like I can discuss these things at work any more.’
He said unconscious-bias training was little more than a way ‘to shame white people’, adding: ‘We work for the people of this country and the money we receive comes from them. I feel a responsibility to not waste money on something that is not going to make a difference to clinical outcomes.’ Toby Young, of the Free Speech Union, said: ‘It beggars belief that the NHS is wasting money on this snake oil.’
HEE said it was ‘a diverse, people-focused, inclusive organisation’ that offered optional ‘opportunities to all to further awareness... of aspects of diversity and inclusion’.