This week, Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the Conservative Party, appointed her cabinet members. Badenoch claims her selection was based on MPs’ ability, as her goal is to rebuild the trust between the public and the Conservatives.
However, her new cabinet pushes even further right-wing than ever before. Badenoch cannot credibly claim to increase the ‘breadth of experience and perspective’ of the cabinet, whilst most of those appointed served as ministers under the ill-fated Liz Truss administration. The same ingredients always lead to the same product, and in this instance it will be disappointment again.
Priti Patel was given the role of Foreign Secretary, despite Patel openly voting against same sex marriage, and advocating for the re-introduction of the death penalty. She is also a self-proclaimed Thatcherite.
If this wasn’t worrying enough, Badenoch also appointed Chris Philip to her cabinet, who last April didn’t know the difference between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo during a panel discussion. How does Badenoch think the public could willingly grow to trust these individuals?
The recent Republican victory in the U.S. adds to the concerns surrounding the Tories’ rightward swing. Kemi Badenoch, the first black female to become leader of the Conservative Party, was expected to be a champion for black women. However, her policy platform leaves much to be desired.
Badenoch denies that colonialism was an issue and, according to some anti-racist content creators, throws her ‘own people under the bus’. Once again the Conservative Party has succeeded in beating Labour in a historic first, yet, Badenoch’s platform offers very little by way of substantive representation. It is rather a very skilled distraction from the fact that the Tories are pushing further right, by instead promoting the diversity of their new cabinet, which acts as a smoke screen to promote even more harmful, out-dated and elitist policies.
This new cabinet does not inspire optimism for the Conservative Party’s future. It shows that Badenoch has not learnt anything from the mistakes of Johnson and Truss by simply re-appointing many of the most offensive ministers serving their leaderships. Furthermore, with her emphasis of right wing policies, such as cuts on maternity pay and comments that autistic individuals are too ‘privileged’, clash with her mission to regain trust with a community that recently voted in a left wing government. For someone who wants to regain trust, what happened to promoting emerging perspectives to work alongside other experienced members? As someone who doesn’t study politics, but instead Philosophy, I am worried for the lack of ethical considerations in modern day politics.
“Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attends Cabinet meeting (52762236328)” by Number 10 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.