Kemi Badenoch slams claims Britain is only wealthy because of 'colonialism and ... trends now
View
comments
Kemi Badenoch today slammed claims Britain is only wealthy because of 'colonialism and white privilege'.
The Business Secretary insisted the establishment of Parliamentary democracy and the rule of law was at the heart of the country's success.
She also hit out at calls for mandatory ethnicity quotas in the financial sector, jibing that her job often involved 'killing bad ideas'.
The comments came as Ms Badenoch spoke at the CityUK international conference.
She highlighted that financial services 'exploded' after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when James II was deposed by Parliament and a swathe of reforms were brought in under Mary II and William of Orange.
Ms Badenoch said the ideas that took root in England eventually 'spread around the world, sometimes freely sometimes not, but eventually they do lift billions out of poverty and lead to unimagined wealth globally'.
Kemi Badenoch today slammed claims Britain is only wealthy because of 'colonialism and white privilege'
'So it worries me when I hear people talk about the wealth and success of the UK as being down to colonialism or white imperialism or privilege or whatever,' she added.
'It matters because if people genuinely believe that the UK only grew and developed into an advanced economy because of exploitation and oppression, then the solutions they will devise will make our growth and productivity problem, even worse. They'll start quoting Mao!
'It matters in other countries too because if developing nations do not understand how the West became rich, they cannot follow in its footsteps.
'And it matters, when as your Trade Secretary I go to the World Trade Organization Conference negotiating on the UK's behalf and some of my counterparts spend the entire
