Samuel Kasumu said the Tory party’s “A-list” of priority candidates, backed by then-leader David Cameron, was instrumental in catapulting Truss to No 10. In 2006, Cameron promised to transform the Tories with an “A-list” of priority candidates, in a bid to modernize the party by pushing for women and ethnic minority candidates. The list included Liz Truss and former Home Secretary Priti Patel. “Not everyone liked David Cameron’s ‘A-list,’” Kasumu said of the plan, which was shelved a year later in favor of a general list. “But if it wasn’t for the ‘A-list’, Liz Truss and several others would not have been elected in 2010.” Kasumu, 35, left Downing Street more than a year ago after resigning as Johnson’s special adviser on civil society and communities in response to furor over the government’s controversial report on racial inequality, which rejected institutional racism. Resurfacing after a year on sabbatical writing a book about his time in No 10, Kasumu last week announced his bid to be the Conservative candidate for London mayor. On issues of climate change, the need for more housing and violent crime, Kasumu said he would be “unapologetic” in his approach. As Johnson’s only senior black adviser before he resigned last April, Kasumu’s loyalty to the party has not wavered. He acknowledged that “bridges need to be built” with the black community after tPatel described the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that swept the UK last year as “terrible”. Instead of leaving the party, Kasumu decided to try to effect change from within. In August, he co-founded the 2022 Group, an organization aimed at improving the Conservatives’ “toxic” brand and its relationship with the UK’s African and Caribbean communities. “I am optimistic that Team 2022 will help inspire a new generation of people into public life and we will show that the Tory party is a broad church in every sense,” he said. With new prime minister and Tory leader Kwasi Kwarteng as the first black chancellor of any government, Suella Braverman the second British-Indian home secretary and James Cleverly as foreign secretary, Truss’ new cabinet has been described as the most diverse council in Britain. history. Of the three female prime ministers who have taken office, Trass, 47, is the youngest. “A lot of the progress we’re making across the board, you’ll find there’s a clear correlation between age and increasing representation,” says Kasumu, referring to Truss’ youth and the diversity of her cabinet. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In her leadership bid against Rishi Sunak, Truss promised to cut public service costs by scrapping diversity and inclusion jobs, which she said “distract from delivering on the priorities of the British people”. While the Conservatives have generally eschewed short-term all-women lists and ethnic minority quotas in favor of meritocracy, Kasumu said diversity programs were essential to the upward mobility of underrepresented groups, although he admitted that “the way they are designed is important ». “The public servant fast stream probably has the most striking diversity scheme,” he said, referring to the targeting of undergraduates with disabilities and those from ethnic minorities and lower socio-economic backgrounds. The most diverse cabinet in history under a Tory government required a new approach to inclusion, Kasumu said, reaching out to people from different ethnic minority and class backgrounds and bringing the expertise to the table that comes with hiring people with lived experience . “I would suspect, now that the [leadership] The contest is over, people will become more and more aware of the need to continue to invest and try to find ways to live side by side as one nation, a nation of many people who, for many reasons, consider themselves outsiders.” . He says.
