Making a statement on Tuesday in the House of Commons on the progress of the ‘Windrush lessons learned review’, the Home Secretary Priti Patel made some extremely progressive announcements.
She declared every single new and existing member of Home Office staff would now have to undertake mandatory training “to ensure that everyone working in the Department understands and appreciates the history of migration and race in this country.”
She also said she was introducing a new process “to ensure that all new policies are developed in an inclusive way, factoring in the cultural and historical context, and with effective mechanisms to monitor and, where necessary, resolve any concerns.”
Join Britain’s most civilised publication.
Challenge the consensus. Access rigorous analysis.
She went on:
“There are simply not enough black, Asian or minority ethnic staff working at the top in senior roles, and there are far too many times when I am the only non-white face in the room.”
Mrs Patel said to remedy this she was going to introduce more “diverse shortlists” for senior jobs, provide specialist mentoring schemes “to help develop a wider pool of talent and drive cultural change” and said that “the Department cannot truly reflect the communities it serves unless it represents the people within them”.
Presumably these policies announced by Priti Patel, previously denounced as being one of the most unregenerate, small c conservative members of the cabinet, will earn her great progressive popularity? Who now would smear the “Vote Leave government” as being a regime of rabid right-wing culture warriors? What word was in there that Amber Rudd would have been anything other than delighted to read this out at the dispatch box?
