You don't need to be black to do the right thing

I would never vote for my local MP, who is Asian, because I have no respect for him. Why should we tolerate bad behaviour in non-white MPs?

For decades now there have been campaigns, protests, demonstrations, threats and resignations over the repeated failure of the political classes to ensure that Parliament reflects the constituencies which make up this hybrid nation. Irrepressible working class people, non-Oxbridge upstarts, ambitious women and feisty gay people have struggled long to unseat and unnerve the men who still believe they were born to rule. Our Parliament still fails the test set by the US president John Adams in 1801. He said it should be "an exact portrait in miniature of the people at large, so it should think, feel, reason, and act like them".

For decades now there have been campaigns, protests, demonstrations, threats and resignations over the repeated failure of the political classes to ensure that Parliament reflects the constituencies which make up this hybrid nation. Irrepressible working class people, non-Oxbridge upstarts, ambitious women and feisty gay people have struggled long to unseat and unnerve the men who still believe they were born to rule. Our Parliament still fails the test set by the US president John Adams in 1801. He said it should be "an exact portrait in miniature of the people at large, so it should think, feel, reason, and act like them".

British citizens of colour trying to enter politics have found it excruciatingly harder still. A new report from the Institute of Public Policy Research, Our House? Race and Representation in British Politics, by Rushnara Ali and Colm O'Cinneide, confirms that 50 years of exhortation have only yielded 12 black and Asian MPs, of whom only two are women – a sorry 1.8 per cent of the total. And all are Labour, although the Tories did have one such MP this century, Nirj Deva, now one of four black and Asian British MEPs in the European Parliament. The number of local councillors from the ethnic minorities has actually declined since 1997 – an important fact when so many ignorant Britons think that we are everywhere and taking over everything and who may vote for the BNP in the local elections because of these fantasies.

If democratic processes were fairer we would have about 47 black and Asian MPs by now. It can't be right that all three political leaders make pretty speeches about race equality and then without any shame stick black and Asian candidates into unwinnable seats to be humiliated.

I think that positive discrimination – with a time limit on it of say two elections – may, in the end, be the only tool that will work. Yes, it's unfair because people will be brought on for reasons other than pure ability. But white, middle-class men have always discriminated positively in favour of their own, and judging by some examples of people in powerful positions, ability or talent were not of any great importance for those who selected them. Just a month ago we found out that, under New Labour, not only are there absurdly more quangos but significantly more Oxbridge men are heading them.

But I have a problem with the IPPR report, a reflection of my own worries about the strategies and justification for an increase of black and Asian MPs. Politics and life have moved on since the eighties when the black sections movement within the Labour Party created a noisy furore about this exclusion, pointing out that Labour had had our votes forever and had not delivered on political participation. They were right, but those warriors of equality Roy Hattersley and Neil Kinnock quite ruthlessly rebuffed their demands. The first four non-white MPs elected in 1987 came out of this confrontation. Then a firebrand, Paul Boateng, made a victory speech comparing Brent to Soweto. We were immensely proud of these pioneers and each, in his or her own way, made a substantial difference to Westminster politics. Watching Bernie Grant walking along those Commons corridors in an African gown with all the doormen looking bewildered is a sight I shall never forget.

Today we black and Asian Britons are less easily pleased. We have grown up and grown disenchanted too with politicians, just like millions of other Europeans. Although much of what we suffer comes from our lack of power in key institutions, we recognise that power-brokers within our tribes are causing as much, if not more grief. We have ethnic-minority leaders who deface our aspirations and lay waste the lives of the young and of women. They use democracy to gain power so they can demolish all democratic principles within their frightful fiefdoms. To then watch these men (they are all middle-aged men) rise to become MPs or peers gives most of us no pleasure at all. Worse, it makes it easier for them to bully people.

So what I am saying is this: there are some very worthy, highly intelligent non-white MPs (Oona King, Ashok Kumar, David Lammy for example) who completely vindicate all those who have campaigned for political inclusion. In the House of Lords, we find the excellent Navnit Dholakia and Valerie Amos. Ethically, it is absolutely right that Parliament should reflect who we are as a nation. But should our numbers be increased by any means even if it means supporting dunces and charlatans?

During the last election I spent two utterly dispiriting days trailing along behind the five Asian candidates in Bradford West. None of them deserved to win a seat on a local school board, let alone a seat in Parliament. No women were at any of their political meetings and the candidates were not at all worried about this democratic deficit. Women I spoke to in the streets (in Urdu and surreptitiously) said in resigned voices that they would vote for the person their religious and community leaders told them to. In women's groups in Bradford there was loathing for the candidates and their minders who intimidated their members. As one young volunteer at an Asian domestic violence centre said to me: "Rubbish they are, and gundas (thugs). Vote for them? I'd rather spit on the voting paper and throw it in the toilet."

The game played in such areas is of ethnic entryism. This depends on an unholy pact which is understood by all parties. Asian candidates deliver votes in big bags provided they are not scrutinised too much by the local parties. In the name of equality, black, Asian and Muslim politicians have the same right to be as flawed, corrupt and shady as white politicians. But they don't have the right to demand our silent loyalty because they are black, Asian or Muslim. I would never vote for my local MP, who is an Asian, because I have no respect for him. My vote and political judgements are never handed over to make up for historical injustices. Why should racism make it OK for us to tolerate bad behaviour in non-white MPs and peers? How does that promote better politics?

That way you only make it doubly difficult for black and Asian people of integrity and ability who want to enter politics. This is why I have both supported Keith Vaz and freely criticised him when I believed he was failing to live up to the standards we must expect of all MPs. There is another point too. Not enough of us appreciate the work done by bold white MPs in racially mixed localities because there is this un-proven belief that only black elected representative really understand our needs. Watching the tireless and enthusiastic Harriet Harman in Peckham, or Ann Cryer in Keighley it should be clear that you don't need to be black to do the right thing.

So, yes, pressure the parties to bring independent-minded, politically astute, black and Asian Britons into all the parliaments, in Westminster, Edinburgh and Cardiff, but let us always keep an eye on who is coming in and what they are up to. And let us all make sure that we vote out the dross because having no good black MPs may be worse than having none at all.

y.alibhai-brown@independent.co.uk