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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Nels Abbey

A question bugged me: what would I say if I met the talented Mr Kwarteng? Here’s how that turned out

Nels Abbey and Kwasi Kwarteng on Good Morning Britain.
Nels Abbey and Kwasi Kwarteng on Good Morning Britain. Photograph: Good Morning Britain

When the chips are down, the pen is a little dry or I’ve needed a cheap laugh from an unforgiving audience, over the best part of the past 14 years I’ve been able to rely on one ace: Kwasi Kwarteng. The first Black chancellor and – still – the most powerful Black person in British history, however briefly.

I could have been kinder and gentler. Using him as an illustrative point in Think Like a White Man (my 2019 satire on being Black in the professional world), I compared Kwarteng’s hairline to the wonky lines of a colonial border, among many other quips, yet my critiques and roastings of the talented Mr Kwarteng were never personal, as I’d never had the opportunity to meet him properly. That all changed at 5:55am on Thursday at the west London studios of Good Morning Britain, where we were both booked to face off for the political panel.

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