Kemi Badenoch’s victory as the new leader of the Conservative Party was marred by hateful comments from those on the extreme right and left. Yes, shockingly the right were as unhappy as the left about a black woman becoming the leader of Britain’s oldest political party. One particular person on the left who stood out was Dawn Butler.
Butler, who is the Labour MP for Brent East, took home the most outrageous and gross award on social media, when she shared (before deleting) a tweet saying Kemi Badenoch represents a “white supremacy in blackface”. I can’t tell you how disgusting and dangerous it was for Butler to share this tweet (which the original author, the British-Nigerian writer Nels Abbey, says was satire), especially when she knows the violence black female MPs face.
But criticise her I will and I will also like to point out that the view she shared legitimised white so-called progressives who spent the weekend targeting Kemi. Her retweet also sets the tone for those on the Right who believe that black women have no place in leadership of countries they consider “theirs”. Yes, her views echo that of Donald Trump and his followers who seemingly object to Kamala Harris becoming President based on her gender and race. Those views legitimise those dehumanising Michelle Obama for being strong and out spoken.
There was literally no need to share that tweet
I used to give people like Dawn Butler a break because they have been educated in a Left wing dogma that does not allow black people to be multifaceted. They have been made to believe that all black people need to think and vote the same. But that’s not true and Kemi Badenoch, like me having grown up in Africa, we understand that not only can we hold our own views as individuals, but that many of the Left wing political views that Butler and others hold so dear are the same views that destroyed countless lives countries in Africa and South America.
I am glad that the Labour leadership has distanced itself from Dawn Butler and that the Party is moving more to the centre but with MPs like her and others who over the weekend shared horrific views it seems that Sir Keir Starmer might have more work to do.
Because there was literally no need to share that tweet.
And like I have written in this paper before, the danger of there being a “single story” of what a black person can be damages Britain. It is feeding the Right in the view that they are in some way losing their “land” when they see people of colour in positions of power. On the left it’s feeding low expectations to generations of children who think they don’t have the right to lead or be who they want to be.
The Conservative Party has over the last decade had some of the West’s most diverse cabinets. And I believe Labour could have the same as well but not while people who hold views like Dawn Butler are in their ranks. Because as the diaspora of especially the commonwealth grows in this country the Labour Party will start to see more children of immigrants moving towards those who see them as individuals and not collectives always being talked down to.
Nimco Ali is a London Standard columnist
