Kemi Badenoch has said an apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade would be a “navel-gazing distraction”, describing slavery as an evil “in which people from every continent and region participated”.
Speaking to broadcasters on Sunday, Badenoch also questioned whether it was worth future leaders attending the Commonwealth summit, given that it was now dominated by calls for reparations.
The Conservative leader made the comments as Andy Burnham said he was considering a formal apology, before he flies to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Antigua and Barbuda next week.
In an article for the Guardian, Burnham said there would not be reparations in the form of financial compensation, but said he was prepared to engage in helping poorer countries restructure debt on more favourable terms.
Badenoch said leaders should be “honest about the whole history, not select the parts that are politically convenient today, especially given Britain’s leading role in ending the transatlantic slave trade”.
“If Caribbean countries are asking Britain for a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, will they also be asking the same of the descendants of African kingdoms, rulers and merchants who captured, sold and profited from the trade?” she wrote in a social media post.
Badenoch said Burnham’s apology was unnecessary because of comments made by Tony Blair two decades ago. “The Commonwealth should be looking forward, not endlessly backwards,” she posted.
Badenoch told Sky News she believed that even if an apology was offered, campaigners would see it as a step towards financial compensation. “What I’m worried about is that this Chogm summit is yet another opportunity for people to start asking Britain for money because of the slave trade. We need to start looking at how we can bring the Commonwealth together – start looking forwards, not backwards.
“I don’t think we should be giving any money to compensate people for the slave trade, and I don’t think that Andy Burnham needs to be apologising because it is a lever to wedge open the door to ask for cash.”
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Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the chancellor, John Healey, said it would be unfair for the British people to be hit financially for reparations when they had “no role” in the slave trade. “The prime minister has said, look, we are open to a discussion about an apology. He feels that that’s the right thing, particularly ahead of the Commonwealth leaders’ conference,” he said.
“But he doesn’t believe that reparations are the right approach, and considering a formal apology doesn’t mean accepting that British people now should accept the financial liability for any part in things that happened hundreds of years ago, in which they had no role.”
