Black adviser to Johnson quits in race report row

The most senior Black adviser to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned, the government said yesterday, the day after a report on racial disparities concluded that Britain does not have a systemic problem with racism.

Samuel Kasumu will leave his job as a special adviser for civil society and communities next month.

The prime minister’s 10 Downing St office said Kasumu’s departure had “been his plan for several months.”

Downing Street denied the resignation was related to Wednesday’s publication of a report by the government-appointed Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which concluded that Britain is not a systemically racist country.

But Simon Woolley, a former government equalities adviser and a member of the United Kingdom House of Lords, said Kasumu’s exit was connected to the “grubby” and “divisive” report.

He said there was a “crisis at No. 10 when it comes to acknowledging and dealing with persistent race inequality.”

Kasumu considered quitting in February. He wrote a resignation letter, obtained by the BBC, that accused Johnson’s Conservative Party of pursuing “a politics steeped in division.”

The government launched the inquiry into racial disparities in the wake of anti-racism protests last year. The panel of experts concluded that while “outright racism” exists in Britain, the country is not “institutionally racist.”

Citing strides to close gaps between ethnic groups in educational and economic achievement, the report said race was becoming “less important” as a factor in creating disparities.

Many anti-racism activists were skeptical of the findings, saying the commission ignored barriers to equality.

“Institutionally, we are still racist, and for a government-appointed commission ... to deny its existence is deeply, deeply worrying,” said Halima Begum, chief executive of the Runnymede Trust, a racial equality think tank.