Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has warned that a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade would become a lever for financial compensation demands, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham considers issuing one before a Commonwealth summit.
Burnham is weighing a formal apology ahead of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua and Barbuda next week.
In an article for the Guardian, he said there would be no reparations in the form of financial compensation but that he was prepared to help poorer countries restructure debt on more favourable terms.
“A Navel-Gazing Distraction”
Speaking to broadcasters, Badenoch described slavery as an evil “in which people from every continent and region participated.”
She questioned whether future leaders should attend the Commonwealth summit at all, given that it is now dominated by calls for reparations.
She wrote on social media: “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?”
Badenoch recalled that campaigns such as Jubilee 2000, Drop the Debt, and Make Poverty History pushed for debt cancellation 25 years ago, leading to more than $100 billion in debt being written off.
However, she noted that many of those countries had since accumulated even larger debts.
She 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.
“A Lever to Wedge Open the Door”
Badenoch told Sky News she believed that even if an apology was offered, campaigners would see it as a step toward 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,” she said.
“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 Andy Burnham needs to be apologising because it is a lever to wedge open the door to ask for cash.”
UK Chancellor John Healey echoed concerns about financial liability.
“The prime minister has said, look, we are open to a discussion about an apology. He feels that’s the right thing, particularly ahead of the Commonwealth leaders’ conference,” Healey 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.”
