PM's minority adviser Samuel Kasumu offered to quit over 'division'

Samuel KasumuSamuel Kasumu

Samuel Kasumu said he feared for the Conservative Party's future

Boris Johnson's senior adviser on ethnic minorities resigned complaining of "unbearable" tension within Downing Street - but then decided to stay on.

In a letter to the prime minister, seen by the BBC, Samuel Kasumu accused the Conservative Party of pursuing "a politics steeped in division".

But he retracted his resignation on Thursday night after talks with vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi.

No 10 said the government was the most ethnically diverse in UK history.

Mr Kasumu, an entrepreneur who has worked for the government since 2019, said in his letter that he wanted to step down as an adviser by May.

He argued that black and Asian voters were now less likely to choose the Conservatives than they had been under former Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mr Kasumu also suggested Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch may have broken the ministerial code when she publicly criticised a HuffPost journalist last week for asking why she had not appeared in a social media video featuring black MPs encouraging take-up of vaccines.

And he criticised the government's response to Ms Badenoch's actions, saying: "It was not OK or justifiable, but somehow nothing was said. I waited, and waited, for something from the senior leadership team to even point to an expected standard, but it did not materialise."

The Cabinet Office has been considering whether Ms Badenoch had broken the rules, but it is thought officials did not consider her behaviour to be a breach, and no official investigation has been set up.

For Labour, shadow equalities minister Marsha de Cordova said: "It is disgraceful that the equalities minister has not been held to account for her behaviour last week. The prime minister must condemn her actions."

'Damage'

In his letter, Mr Kasumu said the Conservatives had built a coalition of voters to win a majority at the last general election, but added: "I fear for what may become of the party in the future by choosing to pursue a politics steeped in division."

He claimed the government's culture was not "conducive" to "empathy" and "the damage that is often caused by our actions is not much considered".

"As someone that has spent his whole adult life serving others, that tension has been at times unbearable," he said.

A Downing Street spokesman declined to comment on individual staff members, but said: "This government is committed to inclusion and bringing communities together and is the most ethnically diverse in this country's history."

The government had set up a Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities to tackle inequality and discrimination and it is due to report shortly, they added.

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