The head of the new government, Liz Truss, is white but a woman. He grew up in Scotland and England.
Truss appointed Kwasi Kwarteng as Britain’s first black finance minister. His parents came to this country from Ghana in the 1960s.
James Cleverley has been appointed as Foreign Minister. His mother is of Sierra Leonean descent and his father is white. He has complained in the past that he was bullied as a mixed-race child. Cleverley also said his party, the Conservative Party, needed to do more to win the black vote.
Suella Braverman has been appointed Home Minister. His parents immigrated to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius six decades ago. He succeeded Indian-origin Priti Patel as the second home minister from an ethnic minority community. Zuela will be in charge of the police and immigration department.
In recent years, the Conservative Party has taken the initiative to field candidates from various ethnic groups in the parliamentary elections. In the continuation of this, the diversity is being gradually increased in the cabinet.
Even just a few decades ago, the majority of British governments were white. It took the country until 2002 to appoint ministers from ethnic minorities. That year, Paul Boateng was given the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance.
New Finance Minister Kwarteng’s predecessor was Rishi Sunak. His parents are of Indian origin. He lost to Truss in the final stages of the race for the leadership of the Conservative Party and the Prime Ministership.
Sundar Katwala, director of non-partisan think tank ‘British Future’, said, ‘Politics sets the pace. We now see this diversity as normal. This pace of change is extraordinary.’
However, whites still dominate the top positions in commerce, the judiciary, the civil service and the military.
Despite campaigning on diversity, only a quarter of Conservative Party lawmakers (MPs) are women and only 6 per cent are members of ethnic minorities.
