The UK’s adversarial style of parliament lends itself to the exchange of jibes across the House floor. But Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent quip that the woman opposite him – Nigerian-descent Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch – was a self-appointed “saviour of Western civilisation” who is desperately seeking relevance, had deeper significance than mere political points-scoring: he was reminding her that she will never be more than a ‘House Negro’ of the British establishment.
Badenoch has gone to great lengths to fit in. She is fond of criticising Black and Brown immigrants while rolling out the red carpet for European immigrants. She recently condemned the decision of a UK court to grant status to a Palestinian family of six on a scheme – which she supported when intended for Ukrainians – that has provided refuge to over 200,000 Ukrainians.
At every turn, she has fought to prove her supposed Britishness, distancing herself from her own roots in a relentless quest for acceptance. For example, she insists that she has nothing in common with Northern Nigerians who, according to her, are extremist terrorists – yet proclaims loudly that she would give her life for Britain, one of the world’s biggest neo-colonial powers. Try as she might, her efforts to be accepted within a still White-supremacist system have been futile.
It’s another reminder that the system is like that by design, and no amount of pandering to the oppressor will make him accept you as kin.
Sources
https://www.kemibadenoch.org.uk/news/kemis-column-statement-ukraine
https://research.senedd.wales/research-articles/wales-and-ukraine-three-years-on