Kemi Badenoch today threw her weight behind Idris Elba’s call for casting directors to avoid a ‘woke’ choice for the next James Bond. The British actor made headlines this week after denying decades-long rumours that he is among the runners and riders to take over from Daniel Craig.
Speaking to GQ, the star said he was flattered by the suggestion, but that Bond ‘was written how he was written for a reason’ and ‘let’s not try and make it woke’. The Tory leader backed the comments at a press conference on the dangers of identity politics in Westminster today. She told a crowd of card-carrying Conservatives and the media: ‘I agree with Idris Elba that we should not make James Bond woke.’
Turning to more serious matters, Badenoch laid blame on the Equality Act for failing to protect Henry Nowak. She said: ‘In some ways I feel for those police officers because they were following guidance. They have been trained on guidance which does not apply equality under the law. Guidance which says hate crimes should be treated as a priority.’
Marking a break with Sir Keir Starmer’s response to the tragedy, Badenoch declared that ‘if we want to honour that wish to honour Henry’s memory, we need to ask the right question’. She argued that scrapping the Public Sector Equality Duty is the first step towards getting public institutions back on track.
And in what will no doubt shock Labour MPs to their core, Badenoch confidently argued that more black boys should be subject to police stop and search powers because the policy works. The Tory leader declared:
Some people who will feel uncomfortable. But the truth is that, when black boys are searched, more knives are found. The incidence of knife carrying is higher. And the people who tell me more than anyone that they want to stop and search are the mothers of young black boys who have been killed by their peers … I’m not going to run away from an outcry and allow other people’s children to be killed, just so I can have a quiet life.
Asked by Mr S whether the entire Tory party is behind her pushback against identity politics rubbish, Ms Badenoch said anyone who disapproves will be shown the door.
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