93% of Britain Wants A Black Prime Minister

With the election of Barack Obama as the first Black President of the United States of America, all eyes have turned to see whether his success could be replicated in the UK.

In a recent poll carried out by theological think tank Theos, an overwhelming majority of the British population stated that they would vote for a Black Prime Minister. The survey findings report that ninety three per cent of voters said they would back a Black candidate.

The survey also showed that only five per cent of British voters would refuse to vote for a Black leader on principle - a similar proportion to that in the United States.

Speaking to a reporter at the recent Operation Black Vote ‘Obama Celebration’ party, Trevor Phillips stated: "This is the first time that a Black person has seriously had an opportunity. It is not that you couldn't identify with John F. Kennedy or Bill Clinton, but for most of my lifetime there has not been a possibility for a Black politician to be anything other than an insurgent."

He also stated that the public in this country would, embrace a Black leader; however he believes that the system would prevent it from happening.

Phillips commented: "Here, the problem is not the electorate, the problem is the machine. It was no coincidence that there are only 15 ethnic-minority MPs. The parties and the unions and the think-tanks are all very happy to sign up to the general idea of advancing the cause of minorities but in practice they would like somebody else to do the business. It's institutional racism. Here it's more about class. It is about culture, a different way of life and speaking,” he further added.

Operation Black Vote research suggests that, at the current rate, it would take over 100 years for Parliament to reflect Britain's ethnic mix. There are 13 Labour and two Conservative MPs who are Black or Asian, but no Liberal Democrat MPs. That number would have to rise from 15 MPs to 60 out of 646 to be representative of the number of non-whites in the population.

However, the Labour-affiliated Fabians Society predicts that the number of non-white MPs could rise to 25 after the next election, as the Labour and Conservative Parties pick more ethnic minority candidates. This would mean that fairer representation could be achieved much more quickly than previously thought.

’Speakers Conference’, a special cross party parliamentary inquiry was launched last week at the Houses of Commons. Chaired by the Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin, the year long inquiry will look at how Parliament can be more reflective of the communities it serves.