Kemi always gets it right

“A lot of people had given all sorts of opinions,” Kemi Badenoch told us, discussing the horrible murder of Henry Nowak. “Some have tried to score political points.” Not something the Conservative leader was going to do. Far from it! Though we would learn that she did in fact have some opinions, and indeed was about to argue that the teenager’s death proved she had been right all along.

I don’t want to make it sound like Badenoch was being cynical. Her speech on Tuesday morning at the Institute for Government opened with a description of how shocked she had been by the case, and we should take her at her word. It is simply that, by happy chance, the Tory leader always finds that whatever just happened has proved her right. Her self-confidence is ironclad. Had she been in charge on the Titanic, she would still have been insisting that the iceberg had come off worse as the waters closed over her head.

If you’re wondering why the police behaved as they did when Henry lay dying, Badenoch has the answer: it’s the Labour Party’s fault. Specifically the Equality Act 2010. “Why,” she asked, “did the police take an accusation of racism more seriously than the claim that Henry had been stabbed?”

It’s a revealing question, because the answer is easily available to anyone who cares to look for it. A political sketch isn’t traditionally the place for this, but I would beg anyone interested in the Nowak case to read the judge’s sentencing remarks. Finding things on the internet is apparently beyond British politicians, so here is a link. There is no paywall. If you’re short of time, go to paragraph 27, which deals with the question of why police officers, summoned to what they had been told was a racist attack, and finding several witnesses who told them there had been a racist attack, initially thought they were dealing with a racist attack. It’s on page eight. “The attending police officers honestly believed that there were reasonable grounds for suspecting Henry had committed an offence,” Judge William Mousley concluded. “The police were given a convincing but wholly false narrative.”

Henry had told the police he’d been stabbed, the judge went on, but “it was dark and Henry was wearing a dark top. The entry damage caused by the knife through it would not have been obvious. Whilst there was visible blood on Henry, it would not have clearly been seen coming from that wound… Sometimes, someone arrested and handcuffed will feign injury in the hope they may be released.”

It’s worth quoting this at length, because it is the explanation offered by someone who sat through the trial and heard all the evidence. It’s a story of a tragic mistake. Of course the police should be used to people lying to them, but it is surely unusually for the person who dialled 999 to be the brother of the murderer.

Still, Badenoch knows better. She explained that the officers were in fact victims of diversity training. “They have been following guidance they have trained on, guidance that does not apply equality under the law, guidance that hate crimes should be treated as a priority.”

The Tory leader was offering this as an excuse, but if she believes it’s true, it’s actually damning

The Tory leader was offering this as an excuse, but if she believes it’s true, it’s actually damning. Under her narrative, the police arrived, understood that Henry was telling the truth about being stabbed, but decided to arrest him anyway, because they were worried about being seen as racist.“I feel for those police officers,” Badenoch said, suggesting she hadn’t quite thought this through.

Not to worry, because she has a solution. We need to end identity politics. By happy coincidence, this is something that Badenoch has been demanding for years. She gave us a long account of all the meetings she’d had with civil servants and police officers who’d told her she was wrong. As ever, a picture formed in the mind of chief constables trying to keep straight faces while Badenoch, in her guise of equality minister, assured them that racism and sexism had been solved.

Now she was promising to repeal parts of the Equality Act, and change the culture within the public sector by, for example no longer talking to staff groups like the National Black Police Association. Not that Badenoch has any problem with people meeting up: she’d earlier explained to the BBC that she was completely comfortable with Muslim police officers going down the pub together. There are competing theories about the problems holding back the Conservative Party, but I think we can rule out an excess of diversity training.

There are competing theories about the problems holding back the Conservative Party, but I think we can rule out an excess of diversity training

“Everybody is getting it wrong!” she declared, a motto that should be inscribed on her coat of arms. Though never let it be said that she isn’t self-aware. “Even I, someone with very strong beliefs, I do challenge myself,” she assured us. “I don’t immediately assume that what I think must be the reason.” It’s just that it always is.