It’s a difficult time to be a Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) in Britain. First there’s the shambles of Brexit. No one seems to know the way ahead and people are losing faith in the negotiation process. Then there are the years of austerity (cutting back on welfare spending) measures, advocated by the Conservatives, which have taken their toll on working class Britons. But if you watch Conservative MP Suella Fernandes-Braverman, recently appointed as Under Secretary of State for Brexit, speak about the issues, you’re more inclined to believe the Conservatives are in firm control of the situation.
The recently married Braverman is of Goan origin, the daughter of Christie and Uma Fernandes. Christie, her father, who traces his roots to Assagao, Goa, arrived in the UK in the 1960s from East Africa. He subsequently found work with a housing association. For those Goans who arrived in the 1960s, England then was a different place. There were still window signs which read, ‘No Dogs, No Children, No Coloureds.’ Goans of that era recall how difficult it was to find housing. They would arrive at an advertised property only to be told that it was no longer available or that they don’t rent to ‘coloureds.’
The Conservative party of 1960s Britain promoted the worst sort of race politics. They championed the Commonwealth Immigrant Act 1962 which restricted non-white immigration. In 1964, Conservative MP Peter Griffiths ran a most shameful campaign in the constituency of Smethwick with the slogan, ‘If you want a n***** for a neighbour, Vote Labour.’ He won.
It was left up to Labour MPs to rally around the cause of immigrants, to shield them from this virulent racism and offer them some protection under the law. Charismatic Labour politicians such as Tony Benn (who incidentally also supported Goa’s Freedom Movement in London led by the lawyer Joao Cabral), Peter Mahon and Labour Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, advocated mutual tolerance, and shaped attitudes which started Britain on its ongoing transformation into a multicultural society.
It is against this backdrop that the first-generation immigrant Goans, even today, are by and far Labour voters. And Goans have produced from amongst their ranks well known Labour politicians such as Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East since 1987, and his sister Valerie Vaz, MP for Walsall South since 2010. The Goan Association UK although not a political entity by any definition, in its early founding years, tacitly supported left leaning politics and politicians. So what shaped Suella Fernandes-Braverman’s conservative politics? The answer may well lie with her mother Uma Fernandes.
Uma was born in Mauritius in the late-1940s. On arriving in the UK, she trained as a nurse in Aberdeen, Scotland, and then embarked on a nursing career in London. The National Health Service in Britain (NHS) is usually a platform for Labour politics but Uma’s years in nursing made her believe that equal opportunity is best achieved through Conservative policy. She has been a long-term Conservative Councillor for Brent. The family settled in North London, where Suella attended the Uxendon Manor Primary School. Surely, Uma’s politics have greatly influenced Suella from an early age. While still at college, Suella was president of the Cambridge University Conservative Association.
Ironically, her first serious foray into politics was running against Labour MP Keith Vaz for the Leicester East seat. She lost, but in 2015, contesting from Fareham she won. Unlike Vaz, who contests in a constituency which is predominantly Asian, Suella won in a constituency where 97% of the population is white British. And unlike Vaz, who on many occasions presents himself as Asian first and British second, Suella belongs to a younger generation closely integrated into British society, who don’t feel the need to play the ethnic card. In fact, Suella is almost never seen at Goan community events while Vaz, despite his many peccadillos remains a firm favourite.
It’s hard to imagine that a party who historically have been anti-immigration, who even today are called out for in-party racism, who traditionally are seen as the party of rich, white Britain, have now amongst them non-white politicians of humble beginnings. And these are not just token politicians aimed at lending legitimacy to the party. No, these Conservative politicians play a dominant role in today’s Britain. In fact, the person touted to become the next Conservative Prime Minister should Theresa May be dispatched to the side-lines, is Sajid Javid of Pakistani origin, whose father was a bus driver.
Even though, they would have grown up in predominantly Labour voting areas, why do second-generation Asians enter the Conservative party? For one thing, being educated at Oxford or Cambridge, paves the way for their entry into the elite echelons of British society. But more importantly, they firmly believe in the aspirational message of the party, that free-market economics, the reduction of corporate tax and the creation of jobs, is the best distributor of wealth and opportunity.
Suella, despite her rapid rise, is still a cub Conservative MP. She is young, articulate and intelligent. She has a long and fruitful career ahead of her. Watching her speak and assume the Tory power pose, there is little doubt that Suella Fernandes-Braverman will one day make a bid for the prime minister’s position.
(The writer is the Author of Goan Pioneers of East Africa)
