Wales On Sunday

White child ‘12 times more likely to be PM’

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A WHITE child born in Britain is 12 times more likely to become prime minister than a black child, a study has revealed.

Will Britain Ever Have A Black Prime Minister?, a new documentar­y fronted by Homeland star David Harewood, calculates the probabilit­y of a black man or woman making it to No.10.

The study, conducted by statistici­an Dr Faiza Shaheen, found the average black child born in the UK today has a one in 17 million chance of landing the top job, compared to one in 1.4 million for a white child.

It also found a privileged white child born into a wealthy household, who goes to private school, makes it into a top university and gets into a top profession, has a one in 200,000 chance of becoming prime minister.

Harewood said the system punishes state school black youngsters and any boy or girl who does become prime minister will need to be “super-human”.

He said: “This demonstrat­ed to me that the system is structured in an elitist way that favours those with wealth and privilege over others, particular­ly people of colour.

“If you’re a state school educated black kid even if you cross all those hurdles, the system still inherently is going to disadvanta­ge you.”

However, the Hollywood actor said he “refuses to be dishearten­ed” and believes a black prime minister is on the horizon.

“Black people can and will, despite the odds, break through those barriers to success. It’s a struggle that starts from the day you are born and would appear to remain throughout your life.

“But the people I’ve met making this film have given me real optimism, that one day, in the not-too-distant future, we will make it to the very top job.

“Any black individual who can achieve this will need to have a superhuman set of characteri­stics and qualities, be the most multifacet­ed and resilient individual.”

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