It is ironic that Badenoch’s way of responding to Tennant’s retort was to cling to the politics of identity, says Seun (Picture: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
‘A rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only Black woman in government.’
That was Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch’s response this week to actor David Tennant after he – albeit clumsily – expressed support for the transgender community.
The thing is, I thought we’ve been told time and time again that the right didn’t engage in identity politics and it’s typically considered a tool of the left.
The whole furore started when the Doctor Who actor received an award at the British LGBT Awards last week and a clip of his acceptance speech went viral on social media.
In it, he expressed his wish for Badenoch to no longer exist, adding: ‘I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up.’ He was shown to receive cheers and applause for saying this.
In calling for Badenoch to ‘shut up’, he was clearly referring to her views on trans identity, which are well known and considered controversial in some progressive circles. Why else would he be referring to her at an LGBTQ+ event?
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Of course, it must have been distressing for Badenoch to hear a room of people cheering when a prominent celebrity called for her to ‘shut up’, and for her to not exist at a time where MPs live with a constant fear of violence. I do not wish to minimise that.
However, it is also deeply ironic that her way of responding to Tennant’s retort was to cling to the politics of identity – a politics she has repeatedly said she’s against.
In 2022, she wrote in The Times that ‘identity politics is not about tolerance or individual rights but the very opposite of our crucial and enduring British values.’ While in 2020, she told The Spectator that it was wrong to ‘politicise’ skin colour and that ‘you can’t pick and choose the rules depending on the colour of someone’s skin – that is what the racists do’.
Yet, here she is in 2024 condemning ‘the optics’ of a white man ‘attacking the only Black woman in government’.
Many on the right – from fellow Minister James Cleverly to Telegraph journo Camilla Tominey or TalkTV presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer – are backing her up in this race-based victimhood.
Source:: Metro
