Tory ethnic minority candidates don’t represent you? They’re not supposed to

Many of our traditional ideas about ‘representation’ only end up reinforcing stereotypes

There are now six* candidates from an ethnic minority jostling to lead the Conservative Party following Boris Johnson’s demise. This extraordinary turn of events has turned ideas of “representation” on their head.

I understand the temptation to look at the line-up and say, “this is not the kind of representation of ethnic minority people I want to see”. After all, most of the candidates are very rich and/or privately educated people who had the kind of privilege most ethnic minorities did not.

For many of us, our parents’ generation was overwhelmingly working class. You might even argue that the Tories are actively pursuing policies that harm ethnic minorities, through their policies on immigration and the Rwanda scheme.

From a left-wing or liberal perspective, this may be correct. But from the perspective of an ethnic minority, this may inadvertently reinforce racial stereotyping. Let me explain.

Firstly, the fact that there are "crazy, rich Asians", so to speak, should come as a surprise to no one. The South Asian diaspora has always had a rich history of diverse political movements, from communists to the authoritarian far-right. In fact we come from every walk of life – including rich Tories – just like white people. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that they exist.

I frequently see people on Twitter claiming that Asian Tories are just trying to ingratiate themselves with the white establishment. But there has always been a strong strain of conservative attitudes in minority communities. I don’t agree with their views, but they aren’t a recent invention, nor are they unprincipled. So to assume that to be a  "authentic" ethnic minority you must have left-wing views is a form of stereotyping itself.

Secondly, it’s not their job to represent ethnic minorities – their job is to represent their constituents or their party. And if those are white conservatives, then it’s their job to listen to them. If you’re running a company, it’s your job to listen to consumers, shareholders and employees – not people who hate you. They’re not going to represent people like me, and I’m OK with that. That’s democracy.

Therefore, and most importantly, in my opinion the whole idea of representation is flawed. When I was growing up, middle-aged (usually bearded) men would claim they represented the Sikh, Muslim or Hindu communities. But they didn’t represent me.

When I pointed that out, people would accuse me of trying to represent the Asian community. Sorry, but no. I can only represent myself – and my own point of view. The very idea that a very diverse community of people can be represented by just a few people who share their skin colour or religion is deeply dangerous. It restricts our own diversity of opinions.

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If you want real representation, then you should want the entire spectrum of views and backgrounds to be represented – not just your own or the one you believe is “right”. This also applies to popular culture: sure, I want to see stories on the big screen that represent my background. But not every British Asian should have to represent me or my perspective. That would just reinforce stereotypes. We have long gone past the days when there were only a few brown and black faces in the media.

Most social issues like prejudice, feminism – or even the climate crisis – don’t easily fit into a left-right divide. Ethnic minorities know full well that there is racial prejudice and stereotyping among well-meaning lefties and liberals (you could argue that trade unions have claimed to represent women and ethnic minorities for decades while staying an all-white male club; groups like the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) have faced accusations of being deeply mysognistic; white feminism is frequently accused of ignoring Black voices, and so on).

Intersectionality tells us that these issues intersect on multiple levels, not just by class. Forcing a class-based perspective on racism is therefore wholly inadequate.

Rishi Sunak or Sajid Javid cannot claim to represent all British Indians or Pakistanis, only that their background informs their perspective on life. But their perspective will be different to that of Sayeeda Warsi, Priti Patel, Shabnam Mahmood, Nus Ghani and Rehman Christi. The fact that we now have ethnic minorities in public life who come from many different walks of life is to be celebrated. Only that is true representation.

* Tom Tugendhat does not identify as Jewish