NEW Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s statement that skin colour is no more important than eye colour will resonate with many. But it may also have been a deliberate swipe at beleaguered Labour MP Dawn Butler.
Her view, first shared publicly in 1963 by former Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie, was made famous by Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley in his international hit ‘War’ more than ten years later,.
In it, Marley sang: “Until there no longer / First class and second class citizens of any nation / Until the colour of a man’s skin / Is of no more significance / than the colour of his eyes / – Me say war.”
Butler’s parents were Jamaican immigrants.
Badenoch – who was Christened Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke – defeated Tory rival Robert Jenrick to become the Conservative party’s first black leader on Friday.
But her victory was immediately marred when the controversial Labour MP shared a social media post by British-Nigerian author Nels Abbey, describing the 44-year-old as “the most prominent member of white supremacy’s black collaborator class”.
In the post on X – which he since clarified was satirical – he offered “some handy tips for surviving the immediate surge of Badenochism (i.e. white supremacy in blackface)”.
PM Sir Keir Starmer has so far refused calls to have the whip removed from the Brent East MP, though Home Secretary Yvette Cooper today condemned the post as “appalling”.
Speaking on Nick Ferrari’s LBC show this morning, she said: “”The words that you have read out are clearly appalling and I would strongly disagree with them.”
Abbey and Butler were not alone in suggesting Kemi’s victory was a victory for ‘white supremacy’.
The author Kehinde Andrews, who is Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University, shared his view that Badenoch is the “shining ebony example that the Psychosis Of Whiteness is not reserved for those with white skin”.
Badenoch, who ran in part on an “anti-woke” platform, has characteristically played down the fact that she is the Conservative Party’s first black leader.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg the 44-year-old, who is one of three children born to Nigerian Yoruba parents, said: “I think the best thing will be when we get to point where the colour of your skin is no more remarkable than the colour of your eyes or the colour of your hair.
“We live in multi-racial country and while that’s great, we have to make sure it doesn’t become something that is divisive.”
Her words have pedigree.
“Badenoch’s viewpoint reflects those laid out by Ethiopia’s former Emperor Haile Selassie in 1963,“ said Dr Frank Millard, Senior Fellow with the Bruges Group.
In an address to the UN, the Ethiopian Emperor and Rastafarian said: “Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war.
“And until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes, and until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, there is war.”
His seminal speech was later adopted by reggae star Bob Marley, who used it as basis for his 1976 hit “War”
Dr Millard added:”Badenoch’s use of these words may indicate a good knowledge of history and racial politics, or at least exposure to the music of Bob Marley whose song, War, included words from the late emperor’s speech.
“It rather begs the question as to whether they were a subtle message to Ms Butler, whose parents originated in Jamaica. In any case, Selassie’s speech was well known among Rastafarians.
