It is said that the country should be governed by those who mimic the country. If there are some number of melanin enhanced in the population at large then – and therefore – there should be something like that proportion in government. My own preference is a little different, in that I’d prefer a government that didn’t spaff the wealth of the nation on stupidities whatever their race or cultural background. But clearly, given what gets elected, that’s just me.
So, ethnic diversity in the current Cabinet. I think we’ve got there actually.
There are 22 in the Cabinet, three of whom – Priti, Rishin and Alok – ultimately hail from the other side of the Raj’s colour bar. Perhaps direct, perhaps filtered through empire bits like Mauritius or Uganda but still from that ultimate source.
3 of 22 is 13.6%.
OK, so this is England and Wales, not the UK, but then what comes up first in a search – and we’re unlikely to claim that Scotland and NI are more melanin diverse than England and Wales.
According to the 2011 Census, the total population of England and Wales was 56.1 million, and 86.0% of the population was White.
13.6% as against a 14% representation in the population – given that we never do appoint half-people to the Cabinet, only halfwits – we’re there in that diversity requirement, aren’t we?
If we expand out to those who attend Cabinet as well we add Kwasi and Suella. There are ten total in that expansion group.
So, 5 effnics among 32 doing the governing. 15.6 %. We seem to be excessively diverse, don’t we?
To break up into more groupings:
… people from Asian ethnic groups made up the second largest percentage of the population (at 7.5%), followed by Black ethnic groups (at 3.3%),
Kwasi is the only one we might describe as Black here but then 1 of 32 is 3.1%, the population is 3.3 % – we’re again about right. And dependent upon how we think about Priti (Uganda) and Suella (Kenya, in part) we might have Africa distinctly over-represented.
So, there we go, this is what proper and righteous ethnic diversity in government looks like.
Aren’t we the lucky ones?
If we demand that the government should reflect the people, then surely 10 cabinet posts should be Corbyn’s lot.
Not only that, about half of them should be in favour of hanging.
Preferably in favour of hanging the other half, which would be a continual reduction towards zero.
Given the percentages, why is it ‘Black And Minority Ethnic’ and not Asian And Minority Black?
Or better, White And Minority Ethnic.
Minority is a noun not an adjective, ethnic is an adjective not a noun, so unless you’re wanting diversity of illiteracy, it’s “ethnic minority”. And in this country, black people and asian people *are* ethnic minorities, so it’s just plain simple “ethnic minority”.
Humza Yousaf – Scotland’s Justice Minister and member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Pollok – has described Javid’s defenestration as ‘Islamophobia’, despite his replacement being a Hindu. Is Hinduphobia a thing yet? (At least it refers to an identifiable racial and geographic group).
@Tim
James Cleverly is also “black” black
As long as they’re not socialists and are appointed on merit and loyalty to UK I don’t care what colour or sex they are. The Hulk at MOD and a Dalek at Border Force would be good
PS Canada has solved the diversity issue with dress-up Trudeau