Racism: The Left’s Bread and Butter

(Photograph: Richard Townshend, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

One of the most compelling accounts of the decline of the Western world is its tolerance for anti-Western grievance-mongers; those for whom the possession of non-white skin somehow entitles them to market their decorated, well-heeled existences and accession to high office as ‘oppression.’ The only apparent solution for such injustice, conveniently seems to be milking the system for all it’s worth.

Nowhere is that more evident than in Britain, where competition for the most racist MP ought to be an Olympic event—with a photo-finish for the podium guaranteed. On the one hand you’ve got foreign secretary, David Lammy, who criticised Comic Relief’s ‘white saviours’ resulting in an £8 Million loss of revenue, and who believed that papal smoke indicated the race of the next pontiff. Then there’s outgoing SNP leader, Humza Yousaf, whose most famous speech was the apoplexy he suffered post realisation that the vast majority of the Scottish population are white. If I had to choose however, I’d give the gold medal to Labour MP for Brent East, Dawn Butler. Her furious deployment of the race card over the years must surely entitle her to enough cashback to pay off that jacuzzi she put on expenses.

Butler, who makes the news for politicking rather than politics, has once again hit the headlines after retweeting Nigerian author Nels Abbey, whose response to the election of Kemi Badenoch as the first black leader of the Conservative Party was the ugly slur, “white supremacy in Blackface”:

Naturally, Abbey has since rowed back on his comments, claiming they were “clearly satirical” and “intended as a sketch,” although that didn’t seem to be Butler’s take on the matter, after she notably deleted the tweet. But then, why would that surprise us?

Dawn’s back catalogue of anti white and black supremacy statements could fill a manifesto. I’ll give you a précis:

●       Butler recently mocked white people in a poem for Black History Month: “This beautiful mahogany brown, this skin you don’t like I believe. So why you trying so hard to achieve. By burning yourself with the sun? For me there’s no need. Because I am the Chosen One.”

●       Butler celebrated the Labour election victory by typically playing up the division, “Showing off the melanin”:  https://x.com/DawnButlerBrent/status/1810369157004923384

●       Then there was Black Girl Day Off, because God knows a girl’s gotta spend more time with her jacuzzi: https://x.com/DawnButlerBrent/status/1845037646516494400

●       Butler is in favour of paying reparations to former colonies (conservatively estimated at a price tag of £18 Trillion), without any thought for the fiscal consequences.

●       Butler famously accused Priti Patel of ‘gaslighting’ by downplaying her own experiences of racism.

It’s hard to see Butler as anything other than the poster girl for the progressive Left: a group for whom identity is everything, while substance counts for precious little. Esoteric statements on race notwithstanding, Butler contributes little to the Westminster debate beyond questionable observations such as “a child is born without sex” and that “90% of giraffes are gay.” Ok Dawn.

And yet, there are unlikely to be any repercussions for Butler. Despite calls from the Tories, Keir Starmer has already indicated he has no intention of withdrawing the whip from her, which raises the question: what more would she have to do to get suspended? Furthermore, what precisely are the rules on this two-tier approach to racism? We all know that had a white MP criticised Badenoch’s appointment on any grounds whatsoever, they’d have been out on their ear. We also know that Starmer suspended another MP Rupa Huq back in 2022, when she called Kwasi Kwarteng “superficially black.” What precisely is the modus operandi here?

It may simply be that Keir Starmer considers himself above the rules now that he is in power.  However, I believe it’s more nuanced than that. My suspicion is that not only do non-whites currently enjoy carte blanche when it comes to anti-white bigotry, but that may even extend to critique of other non-whites who are guilty merely of “acting white.” And, if true, there is something particularly insidious about that. Not content with being openly racist towards the native population, the Left are attacking non-whites who fail to ‘know their place’; ‘Coconuts’ and ‘Uncle Toms’, who do the white people’s bidding.

The disease of wokeness (which some on the Right have mysteriously struggled to define) is simply the commercialisation of victimhood. And to the Left, it no longer matters whether there is any genuine victimhood to speak of. You’re either the right kind of black, or you’re the worst kind of fake white, as immortalised by Joe Biden, when he criticized MAGA black voters: “You ain’t black!” Had Badenoch lost the leadership to Jenrick, we all know what Butler would have tweeted. Win, lose, or draw, the answer in terms of identity politics is always the same: white supremacy did it.

Kemi Badenoch’s crime—a crime for which the Left will never forgive her—is that she is not prepared to play the victim, either self-proclaimed or professed by others on her behalf. She believes that “Britain is the best country in the world to be black,” a statement for which there is more than sufficient grounds. The likes of Butler will always hate the Kemi Badenochs, the Priti Patels, and the Suella Bravermans of this world, because they so obviously expose their lies: how can Butler et al hope to play the race card in perpetuity, when their brothers and sisters are doing just fine without it?

While many on the Right are lauding Badenoch’s election however, it may prove to be a double-edged sword. Badenoch is clearly an intelligent and capable woman, but there is no denying that she has been chosen in part to counteract anti-male, anti-white smears. Badenoch herself is not without sin in this regard, having previously played the race card in response to David Tennant’s hostility.

Neither is the Conservative Party, whose unifying principle of the past 14 years appears to have been “we must be more leftwing than the Labour Party.” Celebrating the “most diverse Cabinet in history” during the reign of Liz Truss was a ridiculous move, as is the vomit-inducing statement from Tory ‘also ran’ James Cleverly (“male, pale and stale”), confirming that the Conservatives have zero ideas and are happy to allow Labour to set the terms of the debate:

Until such time as competence rather than identity is the only deciding factor in UK politics, the Conservatives have zero chance of being re-elected. And unfortunately for Kemi, I have a nasty suspicion that Robert Jenrick would have been the best man for the job. Perhaps he should have blacked up for the election campaign?

Frank Haviland is the author of Banalysis: The Lie Destroying the West, and writes a Substack here.

This piece was first published in The European Conservative, and is reproduced by kind permission.

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