Hardeep Matharu explores what the rise of Conservative ethnic minority politicians reveals about the party’s approach to race and diversity
As Rishi Sunak took his seat around the Cabinet table this morning as the new Chancellor, Boris Johnson will have considered him another boon; another example of his apparently progressive, modern, inclusive Conservative Party.
The rising star will serve a useful and clever smokescreen as part of Johnson’s colonial-style ‘divide and rule’ tactic – a practice steeped in Empire: the admittance of a minority of minorities to the sensibilities of the white British Establishment who, in their desire to be accepted and join the club, are considered pliable and open to getting their hands dirty on behalf of their rulers through the adoption of more severe positions. In the process, they feel and become ‘more British than British’.
That Britain now has another, albeit relatively unknown, Asian Chancellor – as well as an ethnic minority Home Secretary – fulfills a simplistic narrative of Britain’s progress on racism and diversity. But, what if the opposite is true and these diverse figures have been given a prominent platform – in part – because of their willingness to reinforce an elite white and conservative order, which will actually provide few benefits to minorities and the cause of diversity?
The Tanned William Hague
Born in Southampton to a Punjabi Indian family, Rishi Sunak told the BBC last year that he had fortunately not experienced much racism growing up, apart from one incident in which he was called the “The ‘P’ word”.
He said it “stings in a way that is hard to explain” but also couldn’t “conceive of that happening today” in the UK.
Having only been elected to Parliament in 2015, Sunak is the MP for Richmond in Yorkshire – the former Conservative Party Leader William Hague’s old safe Conservative seat.
In his maiden parliamentary speech, Sunak recalled an amusing exchange when he was first on the campaign trail in the constituency: “Wandering through an auction market, I was introduced to a farmer as ‘the new William Hague’. He looked at me, quizzically, then said, ‘Ah yes, Haguey! Good bloke. I like him. Bit pale, though. This one’s got a better tan’.”
In the speech, he also paid tribute to his grandparents who “arrived in this country with little” and his parents who “grew up wanting a better future for their children”.
“I owe a great debt to our country for what it has done for my family: showing tolerance, providing opportunities and rewarding their hard work,” he said.
A supporter of Brexit, in his new position as Chancellor Sunak is clearly seen as Johnson and Dominic Cummings’ ‘yes’ man. The privately-educated son-in-law of a billionaire businessman, who has worked for the investment bank Goldman Sachs, a hedge fund and set up an investment firm, seems to have promising credentials to implement the sort of economic agenda Cummings will have up his sleeve. Importantly, in getting the top job, Sunak has agreed to pool advisors from No. 10 Downing Street and No. 11 and base his team in Downing Street rather than the Treasury – something Javid refused to do.
According to Andrew Gimson, contributing editor of the ConservativeHome site, Sunak is “extremely proud to be British”.
“The Prime Minister… delights to promote people such as Sajid Javid, Priti Patel, Alok Sharma and Sunak himself who demonstrate that Conservative values, including hard work, patriotism, bettering oneself by getting a good education and helping others to do the same, are every bit as appealing to people of immigrant descent as to anyone else,” he wrote yesterday.
“A generation ago, such ministers would almost certainly have joined the Labour Party. Now it is the Conservatives, thanks especially to the widening of the parliamentary party under David Cameron’s leadership, who have given them the chance to shine.”
But, how representative – with all of his privilege – is Sunak of ethnic minorities? And if he has ‘made it’ in British society, what price has he paid? His rise doesn’t mean that other minorities can necessarily follow his trajectory or that they would want to make the choices he has to get where he has, including about their identity.
The Unwelcoming Daughter of Immigrants
The London-born daughter of Indian parents from Uganda, Sunak’s colleague Priti Patel is another Conservative Party character who raises interesting questions.
Speaking triumphantly at the 2019 Conservative Party Conference, the Home Secretary said that the Conservative Government would be ending the free movement of people “once and for all”, that she wanted the “brightest and best” to come to the UK and an immigration system that is “under the control of the British Government”.
“Because, let me tell you something,” she added, with a smirk. “This daughter of immigrants, needs no lectures from the North London metropolitan liberal elite.”
Patel has been described in these pages by Musa Okwonga as a “racial gatekeeper” – “a crucial role because it allows a group of white people with racially regressive views to say: ‘Look at us, we have found a non-white person who agrees with us, our policies therefore do not have racially regressive effects’.”