Racism and the Tory Party

From Disraeli to Johnson

Mike Cole author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:30th Dec '22

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Racism and the Tory Party cover

Racism is an endemic feature of the Tory Party. Tracing the history of that racism, Racism and the Tory Party investigates the changing forms of racism in the party from the days of Empire, including the championing of imperialism at the turn of the 20th century and the ramping up of antisemitism, the imperial and ‘racial’ politics of Winston Churchill, the rise of Enoch Powell and Powellism, to the Margaret Thatcher years, the birth of ‘racecraft’ and her polices in Northern Ireland, and the hostile environment and its consolidation and expansion under Theresa May and Boris Johnson’s premierships. Throughout the book, all forms of racism are addressed including the various forms of colour-coded and as well as non-colour-coded racism as they are put in their historical and economic contexts.

This book should be of relevance to all interested in British politics and British history, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students studying the sociology and politics of racism, as well as for students of the history of the development of British racism and of imperialism and its aftermath.

‘An accessible and penetrating analysis of the troubling evolution of the contemporary politics of "race" in Britain. Cole illuminates how, across decades and centuries, primary definers within the Conservative Party have strategically used "race" to construct a "hostile environment". For readers located within and beyond British shores, the book provides intellectual insights into how we might investigate the toxic entanglement of "race" and nation.'

Paul Michael Garrett, University of Galway, Republic of Ireland, author of Social Work with Irish Children and Families in Britain (2004) and several other books. These include Welfare Words (2017), Dissenting Social Work: Critical Theory, Resistance and Pandemic (Routledge, 2021) and (with Washington Marovatsanga) Social Work with the Black African Diaspora (2022)

'Mike Cole’s Racism and the Tory Party is essential for anyone interested in understanding the historical context for Conservative party racism. Far from being incidental or contingent on populist pragmatism, this book traces how racism has saturated the party for over two centuries. Entrenched within the party, white superiority has combined with national protectionism; stoking fears of miscegenation with attempts to improve white stock in one-nation Toryism; the attempted maintenance of Empire with colonial experimentation in Ireland; liberal multiculturalism with rampant anti-migrant policy. At a time marked by vehement nativism and increased racialisation, this book is a must read for anybody interested in understanding the current state of British political crisis.'

James Trafford, author of The Empire at Home: Internal Colonies and the End of Britain (2020)

‘An encyclopaedic and eye-opening expose of the darker corners of the world’s oldest political party’

Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford, co- author of Rule Britannia: Brexit and the end of Empire

“An incredibly useful, learned historical survey of the Tory party’s shameful and often downright dishonourable take on all kinds of racism. It deserves a place on all relevant university reading lists"

Melissa Benn, journalist, writer and campaigner

ISBN: 9781032056753

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 902g

482 pages