Clever, whose mother is from Sierra Leone – his father is from Wiltshire, about 90 miles outside London – spoke in public spoke about being bullied as a mixed-race child and at Conservative Party conferences about how the party could win the support of black voters. Kwarteng, whose parents immigrated to Britain from Ghana, wrote a book Examines the rule of the British Empire in the former colonies of Iraq, Kashmir, Myanmar, Sudan, Nigeria and Hong Kong.
In a country where members of the Conservative Party – about 0.3 percent of the British population – are generally older, wealthier, 95 percent white and politically further to the right than Britain as a whole, the diversity of Truss’s ministerial appointments has won praise from some quarters. (About 85 percent of people in England and Wales identify as White, government data shows.)
“The new cabinet is a reminder that people of all backgrounds can go far in the Tory party,” Johnson’s former race adviser Samuel Kasumu told the Guardian.
Not everyone seemed convinced. A headline in Britain’s right-wing tabloid Daily Mail ruefully announced: “Liz Truss puts finishing touches on diverse new government: No place for white men in big public offices.”
His predecessor Johnson also had a fairly diverse line-up of senior ministers. Home Secretary Priti Patel was the first Indian-born British member of parliament to hold the appointment, the three chancellors during Johnson’s prime ministership included two men of South Asian descent and one of Kurdish origin. Truss was Johnson’s foreign secretary.
Some have pointed out that Truss’ likely top appointees are on the right wing of the party, despite being ethnically diverse. Kwarteng wanted Britain to leave the European Union quickly, while Braverman said the schools could be legal. ignoring the preferred pronouns of gender non-conforming and transgender students.
Truss, 47, is vowing to cut taxes and raise borrowing to finance spending, even as inflation soars above 10 percent and the Bank of England predicts. prolonged recession until the end of the year. Truss has also pledged to make reducing illegal migration a top priority, ensuring Rwanda’s deportation policy continues. asylum seekers entering Britain in small boats.
The center-left opposition Workers’ Party it has more ethnic and gender diversity parliamentarians, but they occupy a smaller proportion of the party’s highest posts.
Labor politician Shaista Aziz said In response to news of Truss’s potential appointments on Twitter, he tweeted: “Being a black or ethnic minority politician or cabinet member in this country is not enough. Representation is not about that. This is essentially tokenism.”
On the eve of the leadership vote, Aziz wrote an article showing that the Conservatives fail to represent the concerns of ordinary people.
“Despite all the talk about diversity and inclusion, Tory candidates of color and all the asylum seekers in the race support the party’s right-wing immigration policies, which include removing asylum seekers from the UK and flying them to Rwanda while their applications are processed. ,” he said he wrote last month.
Labor legislator Marsha de Córdova he said While Truss’ cabinet is expected to be diverse, “it will be the most right-wing in living memory, embracing a political agenda that will attack the rights of working people, particularly minorities”.
William Booth and Karla Adam contributed to this report.
