Britain is the best country in the world to be black in, Kemi Badenoch told the Tory party conference on Monday, as she blasted Labour over its divisive stance on race and trans issues. The Mail has more.
The Business Secretary used a tub-thumping speech to blast Labour over its “woke” views and for using Brexit to repeatedly talk down Britain.
She lashed out over trans rights, Remainer defeatism and the pace of reaching green targets.
Mrs Badenoch rejected the “narrative of hopelessness” for ethnic minorities that suggests “British society is against you and you’re better off asking for reparations”.
She said the Tories were in line with civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King because they believe “people should be judged by the content of their character, not the colour of their skin”.
Seen as one of the frontrunners to replace Rishi Sunak if the Tories lose the next election, Mrs Badenoch told grassroots activists in Manchester: “The Left accuses us of a culture war.
“But we will not apologise for fighting for common sense. I will not apologise for fighting for a society that knows what a woman is.
“It was this Conservative Government that stopped shameful SNP and Labour politicians in Scotland pursuing a self-ID policy that let convicted rapists pretend that they were actually women so they could be housed in a women’s prison with potential new victims.
“‘Next week, Labour will tell the country that it is ready for Government. But let me ask you this: if Labour MPs can’t tell us what a woman is, what else aren’t they telling us?”
Badenoch, who is also the Minister for Women and Equalities, hit out at Labour for creating a victimhood narrative around race. She said:
Last year I published a report that told the truth about race in the U.K. Labour didn’t like it. They want young people to believe a narrative of hopelessness. A narrative that says there is no point in trying, because British society is against you and you’re better off asking for reparations.
A narrative that tells children like mine that the odds are stacked against them. I tell my children this is the best country in the world to be black – because it’s a country that sees people, not labels. Conservatives want young people to be proud of their country when others want them to be ashamed.
It wasn’t a tough decision for us to reject the divisive agenda of critical race theory. We believe, as Martin Luther King once said, people should be judged by the content of their character, not the colour of their skin.
If that puts us in conflict with those who would re-racialise society, who would put up the divisions that have been torn down then, conference, all I can say is bring it on.
Let Labour bend the knee before this altar of intolerance, we will keep building a country that is in every way stronger and fairer for all.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Kemi is now the bookmakers’ favourite to become the next Conservative leader, the Telegraph reports, following her conference performance. With odds of 7/2, she leads Penny Mordaunt at 5/1 and Suella Braverman at 9/1, according to odds published by the bookmakers Coral.
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