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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics

Kemi Badenoch and the reality of Tory inclusivity

Kemi Badenoch gives a speech after becoming the new leader of the Conservative party on 2 November 2024 in London
‘Kemi Badenoch is chief among those on whom the party’s inclusive credentials depend, but who spend their time in the vanguard of culture and immigration wars.’ Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Nesrine Malik is right that, as with Rishi Sunak, Kemi Badenoch’s elevation to Tory leader is “a first that signifies nothing” (Opinion, 4 November). Conservatives are fond of downplaying the significance of colour as purely happenstantial, yet boasting about their promotion of those possessing it. It is a pity then that skin colour seems to signify so much they find problematic in those beyond the embrace of Westminster and Tory constituency parties.

Badenoch is chief among those on whom the party’s inclusive credentials depend, but who spend their time in the vanguard of culture and immigration wars, attacking, undermining and inhibiting those for whom colour is a defining characteristic.

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