Racism and the ugliness of Britain's increasingly diverse politics

Suella Braverman’s official portrait as home secretary.Photo: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street. CC BY 2.0

The irony is palpable. It took a British Pakistani female politician to call out a British Indian female politician’s “racist rhetoric”. Conservative Party politician Sayeeda Warsi has denounced Suella Braverman, home secretary in the government run by Ms Warsi’s party.

Ms Warsi, who is Muslim, said Ms Braverman’s allegations about British Pakistani men could embolden racists and incite attacks. As home secretary and a trained lawyer, she said, Ms Braverman should use words more carefully.

She makes a good point. Some weeks ago, Ms Braverman said groups of “vulnerable white English girls” were being “pursued and raped and drugged and harmed by gangs of British Pakistani men who’ve worked in child abuse networks”. There were, as Ms Warsi has noted, no caveats, no care to protect innocent people whose ethnicity may leave them exposed. Ms Warsi, who served as Britain’s first minister…