Prime Minister-in-waiting Liz Truss, who beat Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership contest, is expected to appoint James Cleverley as foreign secretary, Suella Braverman as home secretary and Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor. Kwarteng, who is set to become the UK’s first black chancellor, will take the reins of a post where three of his Tory predecessors were also from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. The expected appointments were welcomed by some, including former Boris Johnson adviser Samuel Kasumu, who resigned last year after a controversial report by the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Inequalities, which critics said dismissed institutional racism. “The new cabinet is another reminder that people from all backgrounds can go a long way in the Tory party,” Kasumu said. “The challenge for us is to reflect this diversity among those who vote for us. He will be the key to the future success of the party.” Kasumu recently co-founded the 2022 Group, an organization that aims to improve the Conservative party’s “toxic” brand and its relationship with the UK’s African and Caribbean communities. “The Labor Party has taken ethnic minority voters for granted for as long as I can remember. It is one of the reasons I joined the Conservative party. I wanted to make sure people from backgrounds like mine had a real choice,” she said. “As a party we are open and willing to utilize talent from across the country. But we need to do more to broaden our appeal to minority ethnic communities.” Research from Queen Mary University of London from 2018 shows that Conservative party members are 97% white, compared to 96% of Labor and the Lib Dems. Simon Woolley, who founded Operation Black Vote in 1996 to increase the number of Black MPs, said the new appointments would be “unprecedented”. “This is unprecedented for any political party,” Woolley admitted. “But more than diversity, it’s about politics. It does no good to have much diversity if this group of MPs continues to engage in pseudo-culture wars that actually pit poor whites against poor blacks,” he said. “I desperately hope they don’t. I also hope they will recognize and address persistent racial inequality.” Braverman will become the second British member of parliament of Indian origin to be appointed home secretary if she succeeds Priti Patel who resigned on Monday. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In a statement, Conservative Friends of India applauded the diversity of the Conservative party. “Suela was an outstanding candidate who rose through the ranks of the party from her humble beginnings in Wembley,” the statement said. “It reflects that the Conservative party is the true party of inclusivity and meritocracy, where everyone has the opportunity to excel regardless of background.” But Shaista Aziz, a Labor councilor in Oxford and anti-racism campaigner, described Braverman’s appointment as “appalling”, given her support for former home secretary Sajid Javid’s decision to revoke Shamima Begum’s citizenship in 2019 and the her calls for the UK to leave the ECtHR following the Rwanda decision. “It is appalling that he is someone who has supported Rwanda’s deportation policy, the further demonization of refugees and migrants, and the Shamima Begum issue,” he said. “It is not enough to be black or a politician from an ethnic minority in this country or a member of the cabinet. That’s not what representation is about. This is actually symbolism,” Aziz said. “I don’t believe these three appointments are going to change anything for the vast majority of people of color in this country, especially those in the working class. I cannot celebrate these politicians, knowing what their track record is at a time of deep division.”
