UK Election!

The cabinet faces will change over time and no one is going to get 100% what they want from government after 5 days or 5 years. We need to remember the state we were in only a week ago though, we are undoubtedly on a better track.

Me might be guilty at this point of finding negatives in a £10,000,000 lottery win because it was delivered in £5 notes by lorry.

I’m not up for a pointless argument over the issue.

For some reason, I find that hard to believe.

I’m not up for a pointless argument over the issue.

This side of  forum is literally about pointless arguments.

This side of forum is literally about pointless arguments.

No it’s not

Ernie – not cabinet members, but Labour have Sadiq Kahn, Vaughn gething, and anas sarwar in very senior roles too.

Ernie – why do you want over representation?  tokenism? :-)

Or just desperately looking for reasons to have a downer on the new government because you like to be contrary.

Oh dear, I question the lack of ethnic minority faces in the new cabinet and it must because I like to be “contrary”, no reasonable person would do such a thing! I am obviously trolling!

I am not on “a downer” at all about the new government, I have said on this very thread that this is the first general election in my lifetime when I haven’t felt depressed the next day.

I have also said on this thread that I am hugely impressed by Starmer’s choice of Attorney General and that the UK will drop its opposition to an arrest warrant issued for Netanyahu.

I believe that Labour winning such a huge majority is fantastic, but I also believe that only receiving 34% of the vote is shite and very disappointing.

There is a reason why this place is a political echo and as a consequence totally unrepresentative of wider political opinions, and unable therefore to engage in a sensible exchange of ideas, it is the staggering level of intolerance shown to anyone who should dare to deviate from the extremely narrowly defined STW political consensus.

I guess that it must make some people feel warm, reassured, secured, and unchallenged, to be in the company of others with identical political opinions to their own, especially as it would appear that a fair few have personal issues with their parents/in-laws/brothers/sisters over politics, like yourself MCTD, but I find having opinions on a forum which are unchallenged, and which I don’t have to explain and justify, pointless.

So anyway……. only two brown faces in the Cabinet, that’s not very good, it’s a shame that Starmer couldn’t find more ethnic minority MPs whose “attitude” he could trust.

why do you want non white faces over represented?  2 or 3 is the same % as in the general population?

Thats a genuine question BTW – I am interested in why you think the labour cabinet should have more non white faces as a % that the general population

I have already answered that TJ, there aren’t any Tories either in the Cabinet. It has nothing to do with “% as in the general population”

We are talking about a Labour Cabinet. I would expect more ethnic representation. You obviously don’t. The issue was drawn to my attention by a black person, I hadn’t noticed until it was pointed out to me. All I did was simply to ask if anyone on here had noticed.

Obviously I should expected the reaction and accusations of trolling because I dared to question a decision made by St Keir.

More cash – you do qualify this later in the post but there is a huge assumption there

do you want less experienced/skilled people from minority backgrounds trying to deal with the mess the Tories left, or accept that stronger white ministers are better at least for now?

I should expected the reaction and accusations of trolling because… there aren’t any Tories either in the Cabinet.

You made an interesting comment about representation of ethnic minorities in the cabinet… others joined in with sensible comments on representation as regards Labour MPs as whole, senior Labour politicians beyond Westminster, and how all that compares to the make up of the UK population as a whole…  discussion. Comparing the representation of ethnic minorities to the number of Conservative MPs in a Labour cabinet is just dumb arse shit posting designed to rile people and flood the thread with nonsense to distract from the contributions that might be at odds with you own, IMHO. The same goes for your continued accusations that everyone else thinks, and posts, the same… and without your contributions there would be no discussion, no debate… we’d be an echo chamber. Here’s a shock for you… we can have good discussion and disagreements without you. You do make useful contributions. But you’re not the only one. Many people do. Most people do.

right.  so you want over representation?   ~Why?

I would have expected a level of representation around the % in the general population.  I also think the labour party is institutionally racist BTW

Given Ernie’s not so subtle dog-whistle. I think he’s trying to suggest that Starmer is not promoting Asian MPs to the cabinet as he (Starmer) can’t find any who can be trusted to think the same way as him over Gaza.

All I did was simply to ask if anyone on here had noticed.

I have to admit I hadn’t.  I had noticed the more pro palestinian tone but not that

It’s a mistake to think that tokenism equals representation. Whilst agreeing with the tenets of the Forde report, shitz can be of all colours and orientations.

right. so you want over representation? ~Why?

Are you ok about over representation of lawyers? Why?

Anyway don’t worry about it, the issue was drawn to my attention by someone and I was simply interested in hearing the opinions of others on here.

It turns out that the dozen or so individuals who decide what the STW political consensus should be don’t have a problem with it.

Although I’m guessing that they probably would if it was a Tory Cabinet.

I am also guessing that Martin Forde KC, who wrote the Forde Report into racism within the Labour Party, probably also has a problem with it. I don’t supposed anyone has asked him yet though

To my knowledge, unless I’ve missed something, there are no Gary’s in the cabinet.

I don’t think most people realise what a persecuted minority Gary’s are and the challenges they face in life. Or they do realise and just don’t care! Either way its unacceptable.

This is an issue I feel every forward-looking party should be addressing if they want to be taken seriously

As above – I have no doubt that the labour party is institutionally racist.

I still do not understand why you think non white faces should be over represented in cabinet tho

Are you ok about over representation of lawyers?

Yes.

Why?

Because the job of parliament and in particular the ministers within the cabinet is to make law or policy shaped by law, so it’s really, really important that they understand how to read and interpret it, the implications of it on their decision making and policy choices and ultimately therefore how to draft it.

As above – I have no doubt that the labour party is institutionally racist.

Eh? Say what now?

I have to admit I hadn’t

That’s the point. I said right at the start that I hadn’t noticed. That’s probably because I am white. I was interested in knowing if others had noticed, one person said they had but I don’t know if they are white or not.

The point is that white people don’t notice stuff like that which is just one reason why we need more black representation at the top.

Ethnic minorities in our society are dominated by the opinions and attitudes of the  white majority, it would be nice if a Labour government gave them a greater voice.

I’m still down for the technocratic ‘pick qualified people who have relevant experience in the appropriate area’ approach.

there are no Gary’s in the cabinet

Lawyers? Garys? Tories? Redheads? FFS. Whatever the point/joke being made… it belittles the problems we’ve had in the UK when it comes to ethnic minorities being heard and seen in politics, especially at the national level. Having senior politicians from many minorities at high levels in all our political parties shows how much progress there has been over the last 40 years… but it’s not a signifier of “job done”… hopefully there’s still more to come.

It turns out that the dozen or so individuals who decide what the STW political consensus should be

Pot, have you met kettle?

it would be nice if a Labour government gave them a greater voice.

So the only way the Labour Party can give a voice to people now is by making them cabinet members?

I suppose when you put it like that, you can’t really fault your logic

there aren’t any Tories either in the Cabinet.

I’m quite glad that’s now an agreed position because plenty of people were throwing that accusation at the Labour front bench not that long ago.

Eh? Say what now?

I am struggling to believe that you haven’t heard of the Forde Report, which was fully accepted by the Labour Party.

The report made it clear that the Labour Party is institutionally racist. Now you could argue that in the last couple of years since the report everything has been sorted out and it is no longer the awful problem it was, but just two brown faces among 26 Cabinet members doesn’t inspire a huge amount of confidence. Well not from some black and Asian people anyway.

Still not prepared to come out for the Gary’s though, are you?

Your double standards sicken me

Look at the treatment of Abbott and others.  Its no coincidence that black and brown folk are far more likely to be deselected and bypassed.  Listen to the testimonies of those who struggle to be heard.

racism in the labour party is an obvious tho small thread running thru it

Still not prepared to come out for the Gary’s though, are you?

Your double standards sicken me

Talk to me about the Forde Report binners. I know that you like to get all jokey when you feel that you are on dodgy ground but how about you explain the findings of the Forde Report and the evidence of institutional racism in the Labour Party?

You challenged TJ’s claim of institutional racism in the Labour Party how about explaining why you might reject the same claim from Martin Forde KC? Is he a dodgy barrister or something?

Take the Asian guy who the LP put up against Corbyn. Was he going to represent brown people or private healthcare?

Would be good to overcompensate I suppose so how many is the magic number, what % of white to non-white and what %s within the non white.

With a relatively small number of people hitting a target % doesn’t make sense but over would possibly be better than under.

Without knowing all the people and their skills on offer though I can’t say whether upping the % while getting me the most qualified people is achievable currently which points to a different problem.

Ernie – so I am reading it that you think some over representation is needed to send a signal or something similar?  Makes me uneasy and smacks of tokenism

Take the Asian guy who the LP put up against Corbyn. Was he going to represent brown people or private healthcare?

Praful Nargund? His company are IVF specialists… but I’m not sure why he wouldn’t have been a good representative for his constituents if he had won… whatever their ethnicity.

https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/The-Forde-Report.pdf

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-party-racism-report-martin-forde-starmer-b2564059.html

I very much doubt the culture has changed at all.  I saw obvious racism in the deselection of candidates.  also in Scotland we have a serious sectarian / religious divide in the labour party.

Its not the ” wee hate brown and black people” of Reform – its the insidious “people like us” racism where minority voices of all types struggle to be heard

Kelvin – I do not think there is much doubt about who he wanted to represent

LABOUR’S candidate to replace Jeremy Corbyn in Islington North tomorrow has said the privatisation of healthcare is “very, very important” and was until recently director of an investment company for fertility services that made nearly £17 million tax-free profit in nine months.

Praful Nargund was filmed giving a talk in March 2015 saying that “as we are in the run-up to a general election in the UK, privatisation of healthcare is very, very important and it’s about what the private sector can do to prove its worth to the public sector.”

OK its from the morning star but I doubt it made his words up

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/privatising-health-very-important-labours-corbyn-replacement-his-firm-made-ps17m-tax

So anyway……. only two brown faces in the Cabinet, that’s not very good, it’s a shame that Starmer couldn’t find more ethnic minority MPs whose “attitude” he could trust.

To turn that around, I assume you were happy with the ethnic make-up of the (constantly changing…) Tory cabinet, even as they rinsed the country, crashed the economy, ratcheted up the division and stoked the culture wars…?

Shame about the £30bn black hole in the economy but hey, at least the Chancellor was a black guy, how very diverse.
Shame about the illegal Rwanda policy but hey, at least it was a woman of Indian descent who was pushing for it (irony presumably not being one of her strong points).

Does Lisa Nandy not qualify for this exercise, or is one Asian parent insufficient?

Never mind that the UK is up shit creek in a barbed wire boat, let’s over-represent minorities in the cabinet rather than pick the best people for the job… :scratch: