The Conservatives have so far elected 3 female UK prime ministers, Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May and now Liz Truss.
London:
New British Prime Minister Liz Truss has selected a cabinet where, for the first time, no white person will hold one of the country’s four most important ministerial positions.
Truss appointed Kwasi Quarteng – whose parents immigrated from Ghana in the 1960s – as Britain’s first black finance minister, while James Cleverley is the first black foreign minister.
Cleverly, whose mother is from Sierra Leone and whose father is white, has spoken of bullying as a mixed-race child in the past, saying the party needs to do more to attract black voters.
Suella Braverman, whose parents immigrated to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius six decades ago, succeeds Priti Patel as the second ethnic minority home secretary, or interior minister, where she will be responsible for police and immigration.
In recent years the growing diversity is thanks to the Conservative Party pushing a more diverse set of candidates to parliament.
Until a few decades ago, British governments were mostly made up of white people. It took until 2002 for Britain to appoint its first ethnic minority cabinet minister when Paul Boateng was appointed Chief Secretary of the Treasury.
Rishi Sunak, whose parents immigrated from India, was Quarteng’s predecessor in the finance job and runner-up of the truss in terms of leadership.
“Politics has set the pace. Now we think of it as normal, this diversity,” said Sundar Katwala, director of British Future, a non-partisan think-tank that focuses on migration and identity. “The speed of change is extraordinary.”
However, the high ranks of business, the judiciary, the civil service and the military are all still predominantly white.
And despite the party’s diversity campaign, only a quarter of conservative members of parliament are women and 6% are from minority backgrounds.
track record
Nevertheless, the Conservatives have the best track record of political firsts among the main political parties, including the appointment of the first Jewish prime minister in 1868, Benjamin Disraeli.
This is despite the fact that ethnic minority voters are more likely to support the opposition Labor Party and the ruling party has faced accusations of racism, misogyny and Islamophobia.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologizes for making Muslim women wearing burqa look like a letter box in 2019.
The Conservatives have elected all three women prime ministers of Britain, Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May and now Truss. In 1895, the first Asian-origin legislator Mancharji Bhonagri also came from the Conservatives.
Johnson assembled the youngest and most ethnically diverse cabinet in history when he was elected prime minister in 2019. His three finance ministers included two persons of South Asian origin and one from Kurdish background.
The changes came after a years-long effort from former leader and prime minister David Cameron.
When he took office in 2005, the party had only two ethnic minority members of parliament out of 196, and he set out to ensure that his party more closely resembled modern Britain, which it sought to lead. Was expected.
The following year, Cameroon introduced a priority list of female and minority candidates to be elected to secure seats in the House of Commons. The truss benefited from this push.
Party board member James Arbuthnot said, “An important part of ensuring the strength and resilience of any group, including a political party, is that everyone should refrain from thinking and acting in the same way – avoiding group-thinking.” Committee on Candidates when Cameroon introduced changes.
But the Quarteng has downplayed the importance of their ethnicity. He has said that, although he experienced racist humiliation growing up in the eighties, he sees himself as a symbol of none other than his constituents in Spelthorne, which borders London’s south-west suburbs. is in.
“I really think it’s not such a big deal,” he said after being appointed as the first Black Conservative front-bench minister. “I think once you’re done talking, I don’t think it’s something that comes up that much.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)