Fall of conservative government spells end of tribal politics in South Asia

The removal of the UK’s Conservative government from power this week is significant not only because it offers the prospect of a more focused Labour government on tackling the country’s chronic problems, but also because it marks the end of the first administration in which politicians of South Asian descent played a leading, if often significantly negative, role.

The influx of members of parliament with foreign parents is likely to continue, especially from South Asia, which, according to one estimate published on the X website, accounts for 26 members of parliament in the new parliament.

In the outgoing government, two female ministers from the right wing of the Conservative Party faced widespread criticism for pursuing party leadership ambitions and currying favour with party members rather than focusing on sensible policy.

Priti Patel and Suella Braverman, both former Home Secretary, pushed failed anti-immigration policies despite coming from immigrant families who were helped by their admission to the UK. They were lumped together with Kemi Badenoch, who had Nigerian parents. She was a more constructive Business and Trade Secretary, although she aggressively campaigned for membership of the mainly right-wing Conservative Party.

Rishi Sunak was tasked with sorting out the political mess he inherited from his predecessors as prime minister, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

Unfortunately, although he had built a solid reputation as Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister), he quickly showed that he lacked the political instincts and experience to lead and survive in a government torn by political differences on a number of issues, notably immigration.

He unexpectedly called an election early without proper planning, and then suffered a series of defeats. The worst was when he left France a day before other world leaders during the 80th D-Day commemorations of World War II to return to Britain. This led to huge criticism.

His parents, originally from India, had come to Britain from East Africa long after the war and he seems not to have realised how significant this event was for those whose British parents were alive and perhaps serving in 1944.

If there was a time when his background worked against him (and I never believed it did), it was certainly then, when it significantly reduced his personal support in the middle of the election campaign. It prompted Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right Reform Party, to say that Sunak “doesn’t understand our history or culture”, a rare public reference to his background.

Of the three ministers, Braverman was – and is – the most brazenly focused on leadership. Born to Indian parents from Kenya and Mauritius, she adopted a dangerously shrill anti-immigration tone, breaking the collective responsibility of the cabinet and failing to address the central and ongoing problem of detaining people on boats crossing the English Channel from France.

This behaviour prompted Robert Buckland, the former Justice Secretary, to attack her indirectly when he said after her general election defeat: “I’ve had enough of the politics of performance art. I’ve seen Conservative colleagues posturing on strike, writing inflammatory columns and saying stupid things they know they don’t have the evidence for, instead of getting on with their jobs.”

But British politics is not immune to Braverman (who was sacked by Sunak), Badenoch and Patel, 52, who was born in London to Ugandan-Indian parents. All three have been re-elected as MPs and all are likely to take over from Sunak, who has agreed to remain party leader and leader of the opposition until a succession can be organised.

Badenoch, 44, is the most likely to win. However, the party could field more centrist candidates, including James Cleverly, who also comes from an immigrant background, with an English father and a Sierra Leonean mother. He has built a solid reputation, first with Boris Johnson and more recently as foreign and home secretary, and would be a strong candidate against other middle-of-the-road candidates.

Braverman (and probably Patel) is calling for the Conservative Party to accept Farage, a charismatic politician whose Reform Party won a massive 14% of the vote in the general election despite gaining only five seats.

The Conservative Party will now be divided over how to deal with Farage, as he will always try to outshine them. But he has said his main target is Labour, where he wants to win voters at the next general election. Immigration will be a major political battleground for the astute campaigner, following his earlier success as a key leader on Brexit.

Keir Starmer’s Cabinet

Keir Starmer’s new cabinet includes three ministers with South Asian links who will be taking up cabinet posts for the first time. The new foreign secretary is David Lammy, 51, who was born in London to Guyanese parents but whose Indian grandmother was born in Calcutta and sent to work as a slave in Guyana. His mother came to the UK as part of the Windrush generation.

Lammy, whose involvement in politics has fluctuated in recent years, was recently named, along with his wife, portraitist Nicola Green, as the surprise second-richest Tatler Social Power Index magazine – a rare event for a Labour politician.

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Starmer’s government has carried out extensive research and preparation on most major domestic issues but is weak on foreign affairs, and Lammy is on a steep learning curve after being appointed shadow foreign secretary in 2021. It seems likely he will visit India later this month.

He was forced to backtrack on calling Donald Trump a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath” in Time magazine article he wrote when the former president visited the UK in 2018. Recent trips to the US have included meetings with prominent members of the Republican Party, although there have been reports he may not have become foreign secretary.

Shabana Mahmood, 46, whose family roots lie in Azad (Pakistani) Kashmir, has been appointed Justice Secretary. She was raised in Birmingham and is a practising solicitor specialising in professional indemnity claims.

Lisa Nandy, 44, whose father is from Calcutta and mother is British, has been appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. She is likely to be a more ardent defender of the BBC than her Conservative predecessors were over the past 14 years.

What Keir Starmer on Saturday called “tribal politics” looks set to be a rarity in the new government, even as it continues to flourish in the Conservative Party’s search for a new leader. Without naming Boris Johnson or his successors, Starmer promised the government would “turn its back” on “picking issues purely for party politics”.

This article was originally published on the author’s blog.

John Elliott is a journalist.