Conservatives elect first Black woman to lead a major political party in the UK – POLITICO

Rishi Sunak, who lost the July election as Conservative Party leader, was fond of saying he was proud to be Britain’s first British-Asian prime minister: but “it’s flattering that it’s not that big of a deal.”

Badenoch was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in Nigeria, then returned to London to finish school and attend university at a young age.

In 2023 he called Britain “the best country in the world to be Black”, drawing applause from right-wing newspapers and a torrent of criticism from progressive pundits.

But it is a real source of pride for the Conservatives, who have recovered from a major election defeat earlier this year, to have elected their second successive leader and fourth female leader from an ethnic minority. The party’s first ethnic minority leader was Benjamin Disraeli, who first became prime minister in 1868.

Sunder Katwala, director of the Britain Future think tank, said there was initially “slow progress” in representation of non-whites in parliament following the election of four Black Labor MPs in 1987.

But a “rapid acceleration” followed after 2010, bringing real progress that has long been criticized among Conservatives for a lack of diversity.