Tariq Ahmad is Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for Cities and Diversity and also a Director of Sucden Financial, a commodities trading firm in the City of London.
The last week has been an interesting one for politics in relation to the issues of diversity in representation hitting the headlines.
On Sunday at a special meeting convened by the BNP, the party announced that it had “changed” its constitution so as to allow members from ethnic minorities to join its ranks, indeed we hear its first "non white" member is waiting in the wings.
However, one does not need to delve too deeply into some obscure sub-text to discover the farcical nature of their announcement. The BNP had been under threat with a court injunction over its whites-only membership policy by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The party must now wait until March when the courts will decide if the new rules meet race relation laws.
Action though is judged by intent, and the Leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin, was very obliging in clarifying any lingering doubts of real change. The only reason this change was affected, was merely because of, in his words, “legal reasons.”
However, in making this change the BNP have shown that they are seeking to not just retain their somewhat up to now (thankfully!) limited political representation, but broaden their appeal and acceptance. It is therefore essential that the BNP's true “raison d’être” and identity is not forgotten in light of this announcement. The fact remains that the BNP needs to ensure that it can function under the laws of our land. No one expects or believes that there will be lines of potential members from Britain’s diverse ethnic communities queuing up to join.
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