Is the UK a racist country

[bubblebabble]

Hi there, just wanted to get your views on this. I've been following the Tory hustings and am very shocked that people prefer Truss to Sunak when clearly, he's more intelligent and capable.
It makes me wonder if racism is at play and people can't handle a non-white PM in this country?

I do think the UK is an inherently racist country (often overtly but also built into our institutions). I’m not convinced in the cast of Sunak this is the issue though, because I also think it’s deeply misogynistic. I think lots of it, amongst Tory members is the perception that he stabbed Boris in the back and that she has more experience- for whatever that’s worth.

People are racist, not a whole country. That's a very sweeping generalisation. There are racist people in the Uk. There is institutional racism in the Uk. The same can be said of homophobia, misogyny, ableism, religious discrimination etc. On the whole we are a very multicultural country with lots of different races and nationalities living together, for the most part, peacefully.

The Tory leadership debate isn't a good judge on racism. The US has a far far bigger issue with racism and they had a black president.

Yes I still witness a lot of racism however people will deny it

Maybe its nothing to do with racism but more to do with people thinking a woman is more nurturing (of family, of home, therefore country) and a man as more of a risk taker. Right now, in this global situation people don't want to take risks.

There's too much at stake to just appoint someone based on colour.

Racism is evident in every country sadly but I've witnessed far more of it in Italy, Germany and Spain, plus the US, then I have done in UK.

Good job no one is suggesting that then

I concur. It's a hard one to call out as you can be called overly sensitive if you do.

Sunak is way more intelligent than Truss and has better policies but the Tory members will not vote an Asian multimillionaire as PM in a million years. I am surprised that Sunak doesn’t see that.

I'm in London. The only time I feel racism is outside of London.

I think it's more to do with how Sunak is a multimillionaire, currently the richest politician in the government. People can't relate to that and are worried he can't relate to us. People are cautious of putting a man of that stature in power, he's never lived a day on the breadline

Absolutely it's about the racism of the tory members who get to decide

I think it'll be more prejudice than racist. People of Indian heritage are respected and generally seen as or assumed to be intelligent by most people I know, so if he doesn't win I hope it won't be because of his colour. The fact that his wife isn't seen as British will be a problem. The whole tax dodging thing doesn't help either and people will see his family as untrustworthy.
Racism is very much looked down on amongst people I speak to / associate with. The people who use racist language or opinions they tend to be consisered bottom feeders. Racism in my area seems to be against those of different cultures rather than different colours. There are horrendous tensions between different ethnic minority groups in some of the rough areas.

They are totally different candidates. Sunak is one the left of the party, and wants to use taxation to resolve issues. Truss is a mkre traditional Conservative who believes people should keep their own money rather than having it redistributed to them in the form of handouts. It's nothing to do with race.

I do find them persecuting him for being a millionaire strange. Boris wasn't poor, neither were previous prime ministers. Neither is Truss - her parents were professors and she went to Oxford!
I find the argument of him not being able to relate to the common man strange. What would they rather? Surely you pick the person most able to solve the problems.
I think it's hard for people to admit that race is a big factor here.

I think OP, you very much underestimate the amount of wealth Rishi Sunak and his wife have. No other frontline MP has appeared in the Sunday Times rich list since the late 80's and he's potentially the richest man in the HOC. Estimated at £730million as supposed to Johnson's £1.6million. He cannot relate to the common man because has never been one. Do you truly find that strange? You're being very naive if so.

I support Truss over Sunak and it's got nothing to do with the colour of his skin and everything to do with him being a literal billionaire who wears Prada shoes at photo ops. We are about to hit a massive recession and I don't want yet another public schoolboy in charge who is just playing at toy soldiers with people's lives.

I don't think the number of millions has much relevance, since they are both richer than most people in the UK. Neither of them will ever need to worry about their energy bills.
Yes, Britain is racist and so are many other countries. I would like to think that Sunak 's race won't prevent him becoming PM. Barack Obama managed it in the US, a more racist country than the UK.

Yes there is a lot of racism in the UK. It tends to be covert mostly.

If it helps, I despise both of them equally, and "race" has nothing to do with it.

Really? London is the only non-racist place in the world, and there is no racism in London? You must be from a different dimension than me.

Serious question - which countries aren't racist?

Look at it another way. Which other European countries have people of South Asian descent holding the posts of chancellor, home secretary, health secretary etc?

There are a lot of non white people in government positions and people in the UK were mainly supportive of Barak Obama being president of the United States. Sadiq Khan is mayor of London so why do you think the UK public are not open to the idea of a non white person being prime minister OP?