Conservative Party Leader announcement...

Badenoch is having difficulty putting her shadow front bench together apparently. Jenrick (whom Badenoch can’t stand) turned down the first 3-4 posts offered and finally settled for Justice. Astonishingly, Patel has foreign secretary, and given her history one has to wonder why Badenoch thought this appointment appropriate.

I suspect however, that given that there are only 121 Tory MPs and something like 123 shadows to fill Badenoch’s job is next to impossible, particularly as quite a few MPs have indicated that they want to remain on the back benches and as Badenoch only attracted about 35% of the vote, the majority of MPs will not exactly be gagging to support her in the thankless task of shadowing anything.

There are around 29 shadow cabinet minister roles Wwm2 so there’s every opportunity to fill that number. Badenoch could ask Reform and LibDems if short on numbers? I don’t think we have ever had 123 shadows have we?

Interesting viewpoints from Nigerian TV:

x.com/i/status/1853153374893465703

(Hope the link works.)

They suggest she's a white woman in a black woman's skin (similar to what Dawn Butler tweeted). They also mentioned her father, whom she never does. He was a respected politician.

This is getting to be quite offensive growstuff and borders on racism? Sunak didn’t face this level of racism or did he?

ronib

This is getting to be quite offensive growstuff and borders on racism? Sunak didn’t face this level of racism or did he?

Errr? Have you watched the video? I'm reporting what the presenters themselves suggested. They're black Nigerians.

Yes I have watched the video and I find it all very tasteless. Was Sunak spoken in terms of his skin colour in this way? No he was not. He wasn’t a white man in a brown skin.

They suggest she's a white woman in a black woman's skin (similar to what Dawn Butler tweeted)

What an appaling thing for someone to tweet.

Whoever has said it, does that make it ok Growstuff

As I and several others said on another thread, nothing to do with this one, people are individuals.

I am heartily fed up of the media and politicians trying to lump people together in groups. In whatever way.

GrannyGravy13

Whoever has said it, does that make it ok Growstuff

I have made no judgment.

Have you watched the video?

The most racist person in the discussion is Badenoch herself, who is on record as being critical of Nigerians and the image they portray of themselves. I think the presenters are offended that, firstly, she lied about her background (she used to claim that Nigeria was socialist and that she walked for miles with a rusty bucket to fetch water) and, secondly, she doesn't recognise racism in the UK, when it quite clearly does exist and there are other people of Nigerian (and other African) heritage who have experienced it.

fancythat

^They suggest she's a white woman in a black woman's skin (similar to what Dawn Butler tweeted)^

What an appaling thing for someone to tweet.

It's quite a common thought about people of colour, who have turned their back on their heritage.

ronib

Yes I have watched the video and I find it all very tasteless. Was Sunak spoken in terms of his skin colour in this way? No he was not. He wasn’t a white man in a brown skin.

I don't suppose Nigerian TV has much interest in Sunak.

A white woman in a black woman's skin. How silly.
Interesting that Growstuff hasn't been shut down in raising the issue of the content of the offensive tweet which Dawn Butler shared.
Starmer still has not taken action other than saying she 'shouldn't have said what she said.' Weak.

Growstuff The media here is whipping this up and it’s shameful. Nigerian tv ended up by wishing Badenoch well. Seriously it’s a different mindset and has no place in Britain.

eazybee

A white woman in a black woman's skin. How silly.
Interesting that Growstuff hasn't been shut down in raising the issue of the content of the offensive tweet which Dawn Butler shared.
Starmer still has not taken action other than saying she 'shouldn't have said what she said.' Weak.

I am beginning to understand why one of Keir Starmer’s nicknames is two tier Keir

How has Dawn Butler still got the Labour Whip?

eazybee

A white woman in a black woman's skin. How silly.
Interesting that Growstuff hasn't been shut down in raising the issue of the content of the offensive tweet which Dawn Butler shared.
Starmer still has not taken action other than saying she 'shouldn't have said what she said.' Weak.

Don't you believe in free speech? {hmm]

ronib

Growstuff The media here is whipping this up and it’s shameful. Nigerian tv ended up by wishing Badenoch well. Seriously it’s a different mindset and has no place in Britain.

Really? Which media?

I don’t pretend to understand inter-racial relationships and tensions between different groups or individuals of African heritage, and it surprises me that people on here know so much that they are qualified to condemn or praise. Do you know much about it, really? My outsider view is that this doesn’t seem much different to me than the English/Scottish debate - I’ve seen Nicola Sturgeon accused of all sorts.

I think different mindsets do have a place in British discussion. For a start, they are less constrained and can "say it as it is".

Casdon

I don’t pretend to understand inter-racial relationships and tensions between different groups or individuals of African heritage, and it surprises me that people on here know so much that they are qualified to condemn or praise. Do you know much about it, really? My outsider view is that this doesn’t seem much different to me than the English/Scottish debate - I’ve seen Nicola Sturgeon accused of all sorts.

As you are aware, Badenoch is my MP, so I perhaps have been following what she's said over the years more closely than some. She first stood for Parliament in 2010 and, by coincidence, a close friend of mine lives in Dulwich, which is where she stood. he's quite active politically, so was very much aware of what she was standing for. At the time, she was keen to flag up her Nigerian heritage and claimed that if she were to be elected she would champion the cause of Nigerians and other Africans in the UK. Unfortunately, she managed to offend them because she kept reminding them that they had a bad reputation, but it was their own fault. Not surprisingly, she came fourth in the election.

Some time between 2010 and 2017, she changed her tune completely and started emphasising that she is now British and started going on about British values. It was quite clear from the beginning that somebody was pulling her strings. We now know that Michael Gove was involved. She's turned her back on her heritage and is keen to emphasise that she's one of "us" (whoever that may be). She denies that racism exists in the UK and claims that it's something invented by "lefties". She doesn't say anything now about the rusty buckets she used to claim she used to fetch water.

Unlike others, I think it's interesting to consider other people's point of view. I haven't jumped to any conclusions and don't see racism through a single lens.

Casdon

I don’t pretend to understand inter-racial relationships and tensions between different groups or individuals of African heritage, and it surprises me that people on here know so much that they are qualified to condemn or praise. Do you know much about it, really? My outsider view is that this doesn’t seem much different to me than the English/Scottish debate - I’ve seen Nicola Sturgeon accused of all sorts.

I think entrenched racism is very different from any debate about England and Scotland (or Wales).

Casdon

I don’t pretend to understand inter-racial relationships and tensions between different groups or individuals of African heritage, and it surprises me that people on here know so much that they are qualified to condemn or praise. Do you know much about it, really? My outsider view is that this doesn’t seem much different to me than the English/Scottish debate - I’ve seen Nicola Sturgeon accused of all sorts.

I do not claim to know a lot about African politics, other than an AC lived and worked in a Central African Country for several years, and we spent many weeks over there.

The poverty is immense and in contrast the gated communities and large estates are fairly common, and never the two will meet

There appeared to be a hierarchy (class system) far more rigid than ours, with much outrage and resentment from all corners, young against old, educated against the illiterate along with the obvious rich against the poor.

What I did find appalling was the amount of theft and corruption amongst so called charitable organisations. Nurses were seen selling items donated to the children’s wards at the roadside makeshift markets, etc..

Thank you growstuff, that’s an interesting insight - I’ve got plenty to learn.

When people both young and old are facing financial hardship here thanks to the government, it is becoming increasingly desperate to focus on the colour of one person in this way. There are much more important issues facing us.

growstuff

I think different mindsets do have a place in British discussion. For a start, they are less constrained and can "say it as it is".

Yes.
but saying it as it is (whatever it is being referred to) is not correct when the hearer thinks it isn’t, even if they go on to say it themselves.
saying it as it is it evidently wasn’t wrong when KS criticised Sunak’s plan for the WPF, but was immediately right when the LP did the same thing.

The media saying it as it is declared that was wrong to expect KS to have achieved anything in a few days, a few weeks, or a month, or two,
but OK to expect KB to have done anything in a few days.

I’m saying it as it is when I point out that the Conservatives have at least 5 years in opposition to organise their cabinet.