We need to talk about ‘racism laundering’: what it is, who benefits – and how to be vigilant

‘Post-Windrush, it would have been difficult if not impossible to have white home secretaries pushing racist policies.’ Suella Braverman at the site of houses to be built for migrants in Kigali, Rwanda, 19 March 2023: Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

It is a sad aspect of public life that a quick route to success and notoriety for minorities in the UK is to express the most reactionary opinions imaginable. Witness Kwasi Kwarteng randomly and needlessly blurting out slavery apologia on Piers Morgan’s show, or the careers so far of Priti Patel and Suella Braverman. They will have their own views as individuals, but at the same time powerful people and institutions are aware of how useful it is to have their own prejudices mirrored, rendered acceptable, laundered perhaps by a minority voice, with the effect that it ostensibly shields them from criticism.

That regrettable effect is particularly concerning when a doubt is raised as to whether the views, as presented to the public, are a true reflection of honestly held opinion or a distortion designed perhaps to further advance the toxic culture wars.