Review: Not So Black and White. A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics, by Kenan Malik.

Three of the four key offices of state under the Conservative Sunak government—Prime Minister, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary—are held by black and Asian politicians. During the Truss government, the Chancellorship of the Exchequer was held by a politician of Ghanaian background, Kwasi Kwarteng. Many on the progressive left are finding it hard to adjust to this new reality. The assumption that your identity—racial, religious or sexual—automatically defines your politics has become widespread among sections of the left. Simplistic reductionism is increasingly the order of the day, as when Labour MP, Rupa Huq, said of Kwarteng during the 2022 Labour Party conference, ‘He is superficially black … If you hear him on the Today programme you wouldn't know he is black.’