Paul Uppal MP: "There’ll be an auction for the Black vote"

The Junior Minister Paul Uppal has a special and symbolic place in the Conservative Party: Not only is he the only Sikh elected MP in the House of Commons, he also represents the constituency of the infamous former MP Enoch 'Rivers of Blood' Powell.

So when Uppal speaks on race, which he doesn’t do that often, his Party avidly listens. And last week he responded when asked a question about how the Conservative Party can attract support from BME communities.

He said,

"We have to reach out and listen,"

adding,

"in the weeks and months ahead I am in no doubt, there will be an auction for the Black vote."

I was in a central London BBC studio, as part of a debate on race listening to Uppal, and I was astonished, but delighted, to hear a Government Minister talking in those terms.

Uppal’s proclamation about the political fight for the Black and minority ethnic vote –The Black vote- did not come in isolation. In fact, it had been an extra-ordinary week in which a number of Conservative BME Ministers came out in various forms seeking to appeal to BME voters.

Initially Baroness Warsi, the first female Muslim Cabinet member informed her party and wider society that more needs to be done to combat the rise of Islamaphobia. Next Conservative Vice Chair Alok Sharma MP said that big business should ‘monitor and evaluate’ BME staff composition and react accordingly if racial barriers still exist.

Then Uppal put all these comments into stark context: The Black vote needs to be won over if the Conservatives stand a chance of winning the next General election.

And Uppal is right of course.

It is, however, extraordinary that with more than two years before the General Election party bosses have clearly recognised that the election could be won at the political margins, and a few thousand votes here and there will make the difference, particularly in those seats where BME communities reside.

The Conservative internal machinery have calculated that there are 80 seats in which the BME vote could decide the outcome. OBV thinks it is nearer 100 seats. That we could be major players in a poltical dog fight is not in doubt. That we could force all the political parties to set out how they would deal with the persistent racial inequalities in areas such as employment, education and health, is beyond debate. The only unknown is, how will we-BME communities react? Will we seize this moment, this opportunity to shape British politics and policy, or will our cynicism; 'we can’t change anything' -  get the better of us?

Sections of the community have already responded well. Many Black church leaders recognise that our time has come, and have joined forces to register Black people to vote. Similar projects with other faith groups are making good progress.

In a political auction for the Black vote our price should be high, not least because everyone benefits. Equality of opportunity and racial justice should be the auctioneers' starting point. Ultimately though voting is about numbers, therefore, the more people we get registered to vote the higher the price we can extract.

Simon Woolley