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No. 325

MARCH

2001

Bulletin

RUNNYMEDE’S QUARTERLY

Challenge and Change

Since the release of our Commission’s report, The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, Runnymede has been living in interesting times. Substantial and ongoing media coverage – from the enlivening to the repellent – has fueled the debate.Though the press has focused on some issues at the expense of others, numerous events organised to broaden the discussion continue to explore the Report’s substantial content, and international interest has been awakened.

At such a moment, it is a great honour for me to be taking over the Directorship of Runnymede.The challenges for the next three years are a stimulus for me and our exceptional team, and I am facing them with enthusiasm and optimism.
Runnymede’s work programme already reflects the key issues and recommendations raised in the

Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain Report,

for which a full dissemination programme is planned over the next 18 months. Responding to the composite recommendations the Report makes to the Trust – on dissemination, on organising and orchestrating public debate, and on developing collaboration and partnership with other NGOs – Runnymede’s strategy will focus on a number of key activities.
1. A Comprehensive Review of
Events and Coverage of the Report. The first stage of our dissemination strategy is to map the already remarkable volume of responses and activities for a full year from the launch date (October 2000) and publish a cumulative directory.
2. A Workshop / Seminar Series, running from June 2001 to May 2002, is in the pipeline.These seminars will be organised in various locations across Great Britain and will cover the themes of the Report in ways appropriate to each target audience. In addition, Runnymede will be working cooperatively with external organisations wishing to arrange events. on cultural diversity in the

Michelynn

workplace, Moving on up? Racial Equality and the Corporate Agenda, a Study of FTSE-100 Companies, in

collaboration with Schneider~Ross. This publication continues to be in high demand and follow-up work to that programme is now in

Laflèche,

3. A National Conference to

Director of the Runnymede Trust

mark the first anniversary of the Report’s launch is being arranged for the final quarter of 2001, in which we will review the responses to the Report over its first year. A new element will be introduced at this stage – how to move the debate beyond the United Kingdom to the level of the European Union. development for launching in 2001.
Another key programme for
Runnymede is our coverage of European legislation and social policy. An important vehicle for our work in this area has been the UK Race and Europe Network, which we have facilitated since 1996. In this issue of the Bulletin we outline UKREN’s national consultation process for September’s World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, in preparation for which we will be producing a number of briefing papers and reports.
4. A Second Anniversary
Conference, to take place in Europe, is earmarked for October 2002.
At the same time, we will continue to develop Runnymede’s existing programmes of work alongside these new areas.
A key component of our work over the last two decades has been education and the transition from school to work. Having completed a substantial piece of research on mentoring programmes for black and minority ethnic youth, we are publishing a research briefing paper in April/May of this year, followed closely by a practitioners’ handbook in June/July 2001. In addition, we are revising our popular publication

Equality Assurance in Schools to take

full account of Curriculum 2000.This new version will be published in 2002, supported by a series of practitioner seminars to facilitate its use in the classroom.
Finally, we will continue to produce this quarterly Bulletin, supplemented with timely briefing papers. Long-term readers will have noted changes to both its layout and content over the last year. Do let us hear your views on the new approach we have adopted.
From a personal point of view, I am looking forward to providing regular updates on Runnymede’s work and events in these pages – and to developing existing and new partnerships with other
Many of you will recall that in
2000 Runnymede launched a report organisations into the future. 9

  • ISSN: 0965-7762
  • RUNNYMEDE’S QUARTERLY BULLETIN MARCH 2001

1

How Representative Are MPs?

Electoral experiences and expectations for black and minority ethnic candidates and voters From time to time since 1974 Runnymede has analysed the preparations for and results of General Elections – with particular emphasis on the years 1983, 1987, 1992 and 1997. Here Omar Khan looks back at those earlier voting patterns and forward to what might be achieved in a 2001 General Election, or even 2002.

GENERAL ELECTIONS

Since 1987, when the first black and minority ethnic MPs for nearly 50 years were elected, there has been very little growth in their numbers returned to Parliament.
There are currently 10 black and minority ethnic MPs, all ethnic candidate represent the Conservative party in the postwar era we have to wait until 1979. Table 2 charts the number of candidates put up by (a) the major political parties and (b) the parties overall since 1970. candidate.This was reinforced by the SDP/Labour split, taking votes from both major parties but mainly from Labour, meaning that Boateng finished only third with 22% of the total vote.

Notes

1

Race and

1

Immigration

No 205 July 1987.
2 Adapted from
Amin & Richardson,

Politics for All

(Runnymede Trust, 1991).
3 The following analysis of

Labour, and the pattern of growth since 1987 runs as in Table 1.
According to Runnymede’s
(1991) analysis of electoral

Other 1983 candidates

Of the remaining 17 BME behaviour and electoral strategy Politics for All, all candidates fielded by the major parties before 1983 were contesting seats that were clearly not winnable.The tendency to field candidates in unwinnable seats has continued and is examined below, as well as the selection processes of the various parties. A brief rundown of the experience of black and minority ethnic candidates since 1983, both in being selected for and in candidates in the 1983 election, 7 placed second, though all in constituencies with large majorities for the successful party. Two Labour candidates, David Colin-Thone in Warrington South and Ben Bosquet in Kensington, fared best, both receiving approximately 30% of the total vote in safe Conservative seats. While three out of the four Conservative candidates finished in second place, the highest vote percentage was for Ms H

1. Background

Until recently, the major political parties have fielded few black and minority ethnic candidates. Before 1987, the only black or Asian MP to enter the House of Commons in the 20th century was Shapurji Saklatvala (Communist), who represented Battersea in 1924–9. After 1945, the first black or Asian candidate to contest a parliamentary seat was fielded in 1950 by the Liberal party, but it was 1959 before the Labour party’s first postwar black or minority ethnic candidate.

elections prior to 1997 draws extensively on Runnymede Bulletins in the various election years as well as Marian FitzGerald,

Black People and Party

contesting seats, gives a profile of General Election voting patterns and influences on the UK

Politics

Gardener in Newham North East with 28%, and none of the

(Runnymede Trust, 1987)

and Politics for All

(Runnymede Trust, 1991).

  • population as a whole.
  • candidates was considered to

have a chance of displacing the Labour party. Of the eight black and minority ethnic candidates fielded by the then Liberal/SDP Alliance, the most of any political party, only one finished in second place, Zerbanoo Gifford in
No major party fielded a black or minority ethnic candidate in the elections of 1964 and 1966, and to see a black or minority

2. Past Election Experiences and Trends

1983:West Hertfordshire3

In 1983, Labour fielded Paul Boateng as a seemingly legitimate winner for this Labour-held seat. However, the Labour majority was very small, some 700 votes, and depended in part on the personality and popularity of the previous MP Shirley Williams who, as a founding member and then President of the Social Democratic party (founded 1981), was contesting Crosby for her new party. In the context of the Conservative landslide in 1983 and the tendency for new-town areas to vote Conservative at the 1983 general election, it has been argued that West Hertfordshire was probably not a winnable seat for Labour, regardless of the

Table 1. Number of Black and Minority Ethnic

(BME) MPs returned to Parliament 1987–97

Hertsmere with 25% of the vote.

Election MPs Year
Details

1987: Four MPs – first in nearly 50 years

  • 1987
  • 4
  • • All Labour

• All representing metropolitan constituencies
The General Election of 1987 saw the first black or Asian MPs win a seat in nearly 50 years. All four of the elected MPs were from the Labour party.Three of the four represented safe London constituencies: Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington), Paul Boateng (Brent South), and Bernie Grant

  • 1992
  • 6
  • • All sitting MPs from 1987

returned with increased majorities

• First ever BME Conservative MP

  • 1997
  • 9*
  • • All Labour

• First non-metropolitan BME MP
(Tottenham); with Keith Vaz in

Leicester East.

*The 10th BME MP, Mark Hendrick, was elected at the Preston by-election in November 2000

All of the London candidates

RUNNYMEDE’S QUARTERLY BULLETIN MARCH 2001

2

saw their Labour majorities reduced, with the largest swing (6.7% to the Conservatives) being in Tottenham. However, in Leicester East, Keith Vaz won with a 9.5% swing to Labour, far greater than the 2.2% average swing for Labour candidates in the East Midlands. All four of these MPs received harsh treatment in the press and were singled out for their supposedly far-left viewpoints.The effect of black and minority ethnic candidates on voting patterns, and the suggestion that such candidates cause majority to just 456 votes in Nottingham East. In most other cases, the Labour candidate was facing a virtually unassailable Conservative majority, with four candidates finishing third behind the Liberal/SDP Alliance

Other candidates Conservatives: Of the seven

candidates who failed to win a seat, five had been facing large Labour majorities and were unable to make much impact in the election.There were very different experiences for the two candidates who were most likely to join Nirj Deva as the Tories’

GENERAL ELECTIONS

candidates.

Conservatives: None of the

Conservatives standing in 1987 had a realistic chance of winning their seat. Four were standing in metropolitan areas with large Labour majorities and with significant populations of black and Asian voters, a trend and tactic that continues and has also been employed by the Liberal Democrats in 1992 and 1997.

Liberal/SDP Alliance: None of

the nine Liberal/SDP candidates were serious contenders for their constituencies, with most finishing a distant third. Much like the Conservative party, the Liberal/SDP Alliance often fielded black or Asian candidates in constituencies with a high proportion of black and Asian voters. Research has shown that such voters, especially in metropolitan areas, are Labour’s most reliable supporters.These issues are examined below.

Table 2. BME Candidates by Political Party

and in Total 1970–972

  • Year
  • Con
  • Lab
  • Lib
  • Total

Dem

  • 1970
  • 0

0
11
31
4

  • 2
  • 1974 Feb

1974 Oct
1979 electoral damage to their party, is analysed below.

  • 0
  • 0
  • 1
  • 1

  • 2
  • 1
  • 2
  • 5

Other 1987 candidates

Once again, most of the other black and minority ethnic

  • 1983
  • 4
  • 6
  • 8
  • 18

29 24 44

  • 1987
  • 6
  • 14

9
9

  • 1992
  • 8
  • 7

candidates fielded by the major

parties were contesting seats that were not winnable for their particular party.While all parties increased the number of black or Asian candidates fielded in the 1987 election, with Labour significantly increasing its numbers, many were contesting seats where they stood little to no chance of victory. However, five Asian candidates for the Labour party, as well as one Asian candidate for the Conservatives, increased their party’s vote share, countering the notion that black and minority ethnic candidates always undermine the electoral potential of parliamentary parties.
Labour: Two of Labour’s other ten candidates did fairly well in the 1987 election, but with diverging experiences in getting constituency support.While Russell Profitt was considered to have a strong chance of gaining the London seat of Lewisham East, a 3% swing to the

  • 1997
  • 11
  • 14
  • 19

first black or minority ethnic MPs. On the positive side, Andrew Popat was challenging Labour’s second-most vulnerable seat in Bradford South and the sitting MP, Bob Cryer, won with an even smaller majority of just 309 votes.
However, the experience of
John Taylor in Cheltenham was deeply distressing not just to the black and minority ethnic

1992: Fewer candidates; first Conservative BME MP; the ‘Cheltenham effect’

population, but also to a substantial segment of the Tory party, and it has continued to cast a fairly long shadow on the
In the 1992 General Election, all four black and Asian sitting MPs were returned to their seats, and all with increased majorities, demonstrating their positive support. In addition, the Conservative party elected its first ever black or Asian MP, Nirj Deva in Brentford and Isleworth, and Labour returned an selection process for the black and minority ethnic candidates of all political parties.Taylor was defending a not-insubstantial Conservative majority of nearly 8% (just under 7000) and would have become the first black and minority ethnic MP to represent a non-metropolitan area. Indeed, Cheltenham had a very small minority ethnic population of just 2.1% and the Tories were hoping to underline their commitment to this population while also demonstrating that a black MP could represent a largely white constituency. In the event,Taylor lost the seat to the Liberal Democrats on a large swing. Despite his standing as a local additional MP in Ealing Southall, Piara Khabra, in one of their safest

  • parliamentary seats.
  • Conservatives, after Profitt

obtained a writ to stop his opponent from falsely claiming that Profitt was in favour of uncontrolled and unlimited
However, in 1992 the trend of increasing representation was set back, with both Labour and the Liberal Democrats (created by the full merger of the Liberal and Social Democratic (Alliance) Parties into one single party) now fielding fewer black and minority ethnic candidates. immigration, saw the Conservative candidate elected with a majority of 4,814. In contrast, Mohammed Aslam was able to reduce the Conservative

RUNNYMEDE’S QUARTERLY BULLETIN MARCH 2001

3

councillor, he had been called a ‘bloody nigger’ by a local party member, after which John Major publicly declared that there was no place for racism in the Conservative party. to some that they had not fielded more black and minority ethnic candidates in winnable seats. In fact, as Table 3 demonstrates, the percentage of black and minority ethnic MPs as a proportion of total Labour MPs barely increased at all following the 1997 election.
Despite the Liberal Democrats’ progressive manifesto, none of their elected MPs was black or minority ethnic, although they saw an increase in seats from 18 to 46. Furthermore, although BME candidates increased to 44 in total, Labour still fielded the same number of BME candidates as in 1987, the Conservatives fielded only three more candidates than in 1992, and it was the Liberal Democrats who delivered the major increase – to 19, 17 of whom finished in third place. defending a majority of only 3.9%. In the context of the Labour landslide, the Tories were highly unlikely to hold this seat in a London constituency with a high black and Asian population (in fact, the Conservatives now hold none of the 49 seats with black and minority ethnic populations above 20%). All of the other Conservative candidates faced Labour majorities of over 10%, with four facing majorities over 30%.
Labour: Three of Labour’s

GENERAL ELECTIONS

unsuccessful candidates faced opposing majorities of over 20% and thus were never in

Table 3. Labour BME Elected MPs Compared

(1987–97)

Election Year
Number of BME Labour MPs
Total Labour MPs
% BME

LibDems: The Liberal
Democrats more than doubled their number of black or Asian parliamentary candidates, fielding 43% of the total black and minority ethnic candidates. However, none of these seats was really winnable for the LibDems, with 9 facing Labour or Conservative majorities of over 20% and only 2 of the 19 finished in 2nd place, capturing just 17.2% and 16.0% of the vote each. Once again, many of their
1987 1992 1997
459
229 273 418
1.7 1.8 2.2

contention.The fourth, Ashok Kumar, was a sitting MP after winning the Lanbaurgh by-election in November 1991.The minority ethnic population was extremely small at only 0.7%, but was targeted because the number of people unemployed (4,613) was greater than the Conservative majority in 1987 (2,088). Kumar lost this seat in a swing to the Conservatives.
LibDems: None of their seven candidates faced majorities of less than 10%, with two facing majorities of over 50% and four majorities of over 20%. Therefore, none had a realistic chance of winning a seat, with none able to finish better than third on election day.

Candidates compared

Labour: In the 1997 General Election, all sitting black and minority ethnic Labour MPs were returned with increased majorities. The four new MPs were Oona King in Bethnal Green and Bow, Muhammad Sarwar in Glasgow Govan, Britain’s first Muslim MP, Ashok Kumar regaining a seat in Middlesbrough and proving that BME MPs can in fact represent non-metropolitan communities, and Marsha Singh in Bradford West, who lost vote share apparently due to Labour’s failure to select a Muslim candidate. In Bradford West, the Conservatives fielded a Muslim former Labour councillor who was disappointed with the selection process, with an increased Conservative vote share on a 5.5% swing from Labour.
Labour thus won 9 out of the
14 seats where the party fielded black or Asian candidates. None of the other 5 seats was winnable, but Labour did get four new MPs. For Labour the challenge is now not simply that more winnable candidates need to be fielded, but more candidates are needed overall as well. candidates were fielded in areas with high black or Asian populations, areas most likely to be Labour strongholds.

3. On Candidates and Their Parties

Until 1983, the major parties did not seriously commit to fielding a black or Asian candidate. The Labour party did note that it was able to gain its majority of just 3 seats in October 1974 after gaining around 20 seats more than the deadlock of February 1974 thanks in part to the voting behaviour of black and Asian voters. However, awareness of the impact of black and Asian voters did not impact on the selection of black and Asian candidates until 1983. In 1979, 1983 and 1987 the Conservative party increasingly painted Labour black and minority ethnic candidates as part of the ‘Loony Left’. Evidence in 1983 of Far Right penetration among a small handful of Conservative candidates caused alarm, and the general election of that year still saw little hope for the first

1997: More candidates; only small gains

The General Election of 1997 saw not only a modest increase in the number of black and minority ethnic MPs (from 6 to 9), but also a large increase in the number of candidates, from 24 in 1992 to 44 in 1997. All of the MPs elected were Labour candidates.
Nirj Deva’s small majority was reversed in Brentford and Isleworth, being one of the 178 seats lost by the Conservative party in the landslide Labour victory. Given the size of the Labour victory, it is disappointing

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