Advertisement
News

Tory party member confronts Oliver Dowden over ‘anti-woke’ rhetoric

An audience member at the Tory conference asked the Conservative Party co-chair: “Was women’s suffrage woke? Were gay rights woke?”.

Conservative Party co-chair Oliver Dowden has been told his “anti-woke rhetoric” is standing in the way of social progress by one of his own party members.

Appearing at the Daily Telegraph fringe event at the Conservative party conference today, Dowden was grilled by a member of Conservatives Against Racism for Equality over his and the party’s stance on social issues. It came after the MP took aim at “woke aggression” and “culture wars” in his party speech.

The member told Dowden: “I really don’t like all of this anti-woke rhetoric.

“If you pit people against each other, we can’t make progress.

“My question is: Was women’s suffrage woke? Was universal suffrage woke? Were gay rights woke? We couldn’t even suggest that people didn’t boo our national football team on the global stage.

“Have we learned anything from the progress of the last 100 years?”

Advertisement
Advertisement

In response, Dowden explained that whenever he intervened in issues in his former role as culture secretary he said to himself: “Am I standing in the way of change, in a reactionary way?”.

“And I genuinely do not believe that is the case,” he concluded.

“And if you take one example, statues and pulling down statues, you would think from a small but vocal minority that that was the desire of the Black British community. Actually, research shows that 84% of Black Britons don’t want us to do that.”

His answer referred to a report by the Henry Jackson Society which found only one in six Black people believed tearing down statues to be a legitimate form of protest – not specifically whether they believed they should be taken down.

The same study showed that 58 per cent of people from Black British backgrounds believed the UK was racist, double that of the general population (29 per cent).

“What worries me about some of this woke argument is that it’s actually reinterpreting our history to the point of saying we should see shame when we used to see pride in these things,” Dowden said.

He referred to people of colour in Boris Johnson’s cabinet, such as Rishi Sunak and Priti Patel, as examples of “Conservative opportunity in action”.

The only people who benefit from “attacking our fundamental values” are “the authoritarian regimes who have a very different view on democracy and freedom”, Dowden added.

The party co-chair previously suggested statues of “our national heroes like Nelson, Gladstone and Churchill” were under threat as a result of “woke” bullying, championing the protection of “taxpayers’ interests”.

Advertisement

Buy a Big Issue Vendor Support Kit

This Christmas, give a Big Issue vendor the tools to keep themselves warm, dry, fed, earning and progressing.

Recommended for you

Read All
What would you buy Keir Starmer for Christmas? Here's Matt Chorley's gift guide for politicians
Politics

What would you buy Keir Starmer for Christmas? Here's Matt Chorley's gift guide for politicians

'You want it to be magical for your kids': Here's how the two-child benefit cap is ruining Christmas
Two-child benefit cap

'You want it to be magical for your kids': Here's how the two-child benefit cap is ruining Christmas

Labour's devolution plans could make it easier for councils to take horror homes off rogue landlords
A row of houses in the UK
Renting

Labour's devolution plans could make it easier for councils to take horror homes off rogue landlords

Prisons minister James Timpson: 'We inherited a justice system in crisis – but it's stabilising'
My Big Year

Prisons minister James Timpson: 'We inherited a justice system in crisis – but it's stabilising'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue