Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick is facing intense backlash after suggesting former colonies owe the UK a “debt of gratitude”.
Writing in the Daily Mail, the former minister claimed on Tuesday that the Commonwealth should be grateful it was able to inherit democratic institutions from the British Empire, rather than demanding reparations.
He wrote: “I’m not ashamed of our history. It may not feel like it, but many of our former colonies – amid the complex realities of empire – owe us a debt of gratitude for the inheritance we left them.”
His comments come amid rising calls from some campaigners for the UK to pay reparations to former colonies over the slave trade.
But Jenrick claimed this is part of a wider narrative “stoked by a liberal elite and Labour politicians” pushing the UK to look at its imperial past with “crippling shame”.
He said that while the Empire was not “an unadulterated good” and there needs to be “honesty about the crimes of colonialism”, people should still be “very proud” of its legacy.
It comes after the UK faced growing pressure at the Commonwealth Summit in Samoa last week to apologise for its imperial past and pay reparations.
Keir Starmer joined 55 other heads of government and signed a document which called for “discussions of reparatory justice” for the “abhorrent” slave trade.
But after the summit, the prime minister’s spokesperson insisted No.10 was still “focused on looking forwards, not backwards and working with Commonwealth countries on the challenges of the future” – and that did not mean paying huge reparations.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves also claimed last week the UK could not afford to pay reparations worth up to £19bn, as some academics and lawyers have suggested.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said Jenrick’s remarks were “deeply offensive and obnoxious distortion of history”.
Writing on X, she said: “Enslavement and colonialism were not ‘gifts’ but imposed systems that brutally exploited people, extracted wealth, and dismantled societies, all for the benefit of Britain.
“To suggest that former colonies should be ‘grateful’ for such unimaginable harm disregards the legacy of these injustices and the long-term impact they still have on many nations today.
“Following Brexit we need to establish ourselves as a nation that everyone can do business with. We cannot afford such vile, baseless commentary.
“Whilst it might send perfectly pitched dog whistles for a Tory leadership contest, these insulting sentiments are catastrophic for international relations.”
Jenrick’s rival, Kemi Badenoch, has also criticised the reparations row, saying politicians are “too embarrassed” to be visibly against it, adding: “I would not put my name to any document that mentioned reparations.”
The Tory Party members have just a few days left to cast their votes in the leadership contest.
Rishi Sunak’s replacement will be announced on Saturday, November 2, after a drawn-out race which has been rumbling on since July.
