ABSTRACT

In the previous two chapters the emergence of black politicians as a recognisable force in political life has been an underlying theme in the political discourses about race. But we have said little as yet about who these politicians are and how they define their political identities and position themselves in terms of both local and national agendas about race. This is why in this chapter we want to move on and explore the ways in which black politicians are situated within the processes of political change that we have explored throughout this study. There have been few substantive studies of the role of black politicians in the context of British politics. This is in marked contrast to the situation in the United States, where there have been numerous studies of black political elites and their role in shaping urban politics. But developments in the past decade have led to increased interest in the question of how the growing number of black politicians have developed new forms of political identity and helped to reshape the political landscape. It is with this in mind that we want to look in some detail at the new forms of black politics that have emerged over the past decade. Previous discussions of the emergence of black politicians have focused narrowly on either key national figures or on general accounts of the phenomenon. Such accounts have failed to provide an understanding of the broader context in which they must operate politically (Fitzgerald, 1984; Sewell, 1993). In our account we want to focus on the conditions that affect black political activity and participation, the circumstances in which black elected representatives participate in the political process, the constraints that are placed upon them and the forms of political activism that underpin their emergence and impact. We want to emphasise that black politicians are not passive objects of the kinds of racial discourses we outlined in the previous chapter. Here we will examine the kinds of responses and strategies they have developed. We offer a framework that can address the question of the political incorporation of black politicians without reducing their politics to simple co-option (Browning, Marshall and Tabb, 1984, 1986). In line with our general approach, we maintain that it is impossible to understand these new forms of political representation without examining the relationship between institutional structures of political organisation and the configurations of racism within political life. We begin our account by looking at the processes at work within the Labour Party, which has provided the main arena for black political activity. We then look more briefly at the role of minority political activists within the context of Conservative politics.