EXCL: Black Tories to launch group to appeal to African Caribbean voters

Former Number 10 special adviser Samuel Kasumu is leading the team behind the launch of The 2022 Group, which aims to increase numbers of black Conservatives in national and local government and influence party policy

NEW GROUP: Former Number 10 Special Adviser Samuel Kasumu is one of the leading figures behind the launch of the 2022 Group aimed at appealing to black people who may want to join the Conservative Party

BLACK TORIES are joining forces to  launch a new organisation aimed at improving the relationship between the Conservative Party and the black community.

The 2022 Group, which will launch in October, consists of MPs, councillors and activists who want to see the party better engage with black voters.

The idea for the group came after former Number 10 special advisor Samuel Kasumu discussed the idea with fellow party members Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, the agricultural entrepreneur widely known as The Black Farmer, and Police & Crime Commissioner Festus Akinbusoye, during a series of dinners at the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) in Pall Mall which began last  September.

Among the 2022 Group’s key areas of focus will be  increasing the overall numbers of Black Conservatives in national and local government and holding public appointments. It also aims  to influence party policy on domestic and international issues.

David Cameron led efforts to make the Conservative Party more diverse when he became party leader in 2005

Other policy areas include supporting an increase in trade with Commonwealth countries.

After he became party leader in 2005 former prime minister David Cameron launched the ‘A-List’, a list drawn up by Conservative Central Office of 100 preferred prospective parliamentary candidates aimed at widening the party’s appeal to a diverse electorate.   

Political observers have claimed that the legacy of that move produced seemed to fulfil Cameron’s bold 2015 pledge that the first Black or Asian prime minister would come from the Conservative Party.

The current party leadership race saw candidates such as Nadhim Zahawi, Rishi Sunak, Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman standing in its early stages producing a diverse contest not matched by any political party in Europe.

You need competition because it breeds innovation. It means better policies and better ideas that appeal to different people.

Samuel Kasumu, former No 10 special adviser

No political party in a major western democracy has ever produced a leadership field with anything like the levels of ethnic diversity in the Conservative contest of 2022.

But despite this progress Kasumu told The Voice that the party still struggles to win over black voters.

“When you look at the Conservative party, you’ll find that if you are from an African Caribbean background, you’re very likely to be able to progress as much as your gifts and talents take you” he said.

“You can be someone like Kemi Badenoch, become a Cabinet minister and do very well in the party leadership race. Or you could be someone like me who joined the party as a 19-year-old and became the most senior black advisor in government.

Challenge

“So the challenge is not what happens once you become a member. The challenge is that a lot of Black people who might have similar values on issues such as education, family and enterprise and who might see themselves as conservative, often feel like they cannot or will not join the party. We want to try and find a way to deal with this and enable them to see that the Conservative Party is open to them.”

Kasumu’s resignation as No 10 special adviser prompted wide speculation about why he left. But Kasumu told The Voice there was no rift with Boris Johnson

He continued: “It doesn’t mean you’re going to agree with everything that everybody says in the party. We are a broad church. Within the party, you have radical Brexiteers, you have One Nation Conservatives, you have those on the more liberal wing. This is what we’re really trying to present to the community as well as highlight the fact that  there are plenty of opportunities for people to go as far as their gifts and talents can take them.”

Among some of the leading Black Conservatives who have attended the group’s meeting ahead of its October launch are education secretary and former party chairman James Cleverley, Hitchin, Harpenden MP Bim Afolami, Maidstone and The Weald MP Helen Grant and former London Mayoral election candidate Shaun Bailey.

Loyal

Kasumu acknowledges that Black voters have traditionally been loyal to the Labour Party but says that politics as a whole and not just the Conservative Party can benefit from a shift in allegiance.

“If a community of people feel like they can only ever vote for one party, that party may end up taking their votes for granted. Also the opposition party  the opposition party may feel this community’s votes are not worth fighting for. But you need competition because it breeds innovation. It means better policies and better ideas that appeal to different people.”

The launch of the 2022 Group follows Kasumu’s decision to resign as No 10’s special adviser for civil society and communities in April last year.

Departure

At the time it was widely speculated that his departure was linked to the widely criticised report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which controversially denied the existence of structural and institutional racism.  

However, it is a claim that Kasumu is keen to downplay.

“What I will say, and this is not necessarily a popular thing to say,  is that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson was always very encouraging to me to go for the things I was passionate about. I never had any issue.  Beyond that, as a special advisor, your job is to advise, and it’s for ministers  to decide. And if people don’t necessarily agree with some of the advice you have a choice about how to respond.”

As well as preparing plans for the launch of the 2022 Group Kasumu is focusing on his next move in politics, as a candidate in the London Mayoral elections of 2024.

“I’m certainly an outsider” he said. “Although I’m a local councillor I’m not a former MP or secretary of state. I’m an outsider in London because I’m a Black Tory. So therefore, the way I run my campaign will have to be untraditional. I’ll have to just do my way.”

Comments Form

6 Comments

  1. | Simon Hinds

    There is a black conservative tradition from the Caribbean that our parents had but that was social not political conservativism. But I’m still waiting for the black members of the Conservative Party to come up with a black agenda that relates to the black experience. If they haven’t so far, I don’t see how they will in the future. But nothing is stopping them apart from themselves.

    Reply

  2. | M R Craayenstein

    The idea of a black Tory is odd to say the least.

    At every level black people have an unequal experience as citizens.

    In housing, education, employment, media, criminal justice black people have unequal experiences that cannot be justified.

    And the high-flying black Tory Councillors, MPs and Cabinet Ministers have no plan. In fact, the structures thar shape these experiences of black people are largely created by the Tories. They have been the government for most of our lives.

    It is just not obvious what black Tory Councillors, MPs and cabinet Ministers do for black citizens of this country.

    Take the Windrush scandal,Tories caused the problem, unlawfully deported people, caused losses and are late with compensation. which black Tories speak about this?

    In criminal justice, the Lammy Review stands uncontested in its findings. Black Tories have nothing to say to hold their own Tory government to account.

    In employment the McGregor-Smith Report found that black people face discrimination at every level from recruitment to the boardroom. Not a word from the black Tories.

    I’m education the Timpson Review found that black students are disproportionately disadvantaged by exclusions. The black Tories look the other way.

    On Gypsy, Romania and Traveller communities the High Court found that the non-Provision of serviced sites is the cause of avoidable tensions between communities and GRT people. Not a word from black Tories.

    The Joint Committee on Human Rights ( I think that is the name) said that the Equality and Human Rights Commission cannot defend the rights of black people. And the black Tories are silent.

    It is possible to talk about 14 million poor people in this country and over 50% of black people are there amongst the poorest not a word from black Tories.

    Now it appears that the structures that shape the life of ordinary people are shaped by the policies that mostly Tory governments pass. Labour governments ate exceptions rather than the rule.

    Now when do black Tories not speak about these issues? Is it a bad career move? The Sewell Report on Racial Disparities does not count. It is a silly intervention.

    Or is being a black Tory an irrevocable contradiction in terms?

    For full disclosure, the Forde Report on Allegation 6 does not make the Labour Party have a free pass either.

    Reply

  3. | DAZZA

    The Conservative Party are the party. Which dislikes black people. A party that had a Racist Leader and PM. Who just resigned. An Party had the race report rewritten to suit its and right-wing supporters.

    Yes it may more ethnic minority mp’s than it did.

    Reply

  4. | Alpha Delta

    Really great initiative. All too often, Labour assumes it is entitled to the votes of Black and other BAME voters. Yet as the article rightly points out, Black people are as diverse in their political views as the rest of the population.

    I’d advise all voters of all backgrounds to think about what they want in terms of tax levels, support for business, investment in the NHS etc, and then choose the party that best represents them.

    Reply

  5. | George Distant

    Tories have trouble winning over the black vote because we with sense know the tories are a racist party 50s campaign slogan if you want a black for a neighbour vote labour Enoch Powell ,Margaret Thatcher .windrush not an accident Maggie 1980s repatriation plan which she introduced to win over national front supporters along with her immigration bill I would however be absolutely over the moon if a black or brown person were to lead it because I know how the real racist Tories would feel

    Reply

  6. | Angie

    Pay the Windrush victims and let’s start discussing reparation.

    Reply

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