Rishi Sunak in No 10 puts Britain’s racial progress in the spotlight

Rishi Sunak with his wife, Akshata Murthy, outside 10 Downing Street, as they purchase a poppy collar for their dog from the Royal British Legion poppy appeal. Photograph: PA Video/PA

As an individual from a minority background in the UK – I am a Commonwealth citizen of Chinese heritage – I found Nesrine Malik’s article powerfully insightful (Yes, Sunak at No 10 is a ‘win’ – in exposing the emptiness of elite diversity rhetoric, 31 October). It would indeed be a huge folly to consider Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister as some sort of victory for diversity and minority representation in UK politics, for he is only in a position of power due to his similarity with the old, stale and pale Tory party membership and their political ideology.

Sunak, along with fellow Tories such as Suella Braverman and Priti Patel, should serve as a salutary warning to those who blindly clamour for greater racial diversity as an end in itself, particularly on the political left, where Labour is often decried for lacking female or ethnic minority representation in its top echelons. Being of a minority race does not guarantee political progressivity, competency or even decency, and we must keep our focus on the structural inequalities within British politics and society.
Andy Wong
Bath