Albie Amankona: Stop it Suella, you are as English as I am

Albie Amankona is a GB News host, Vice-Chair of LGBT+ Conservatives, and co-founder of Conservatives Against Racism.

My last public comment on Suella Braverman caused a stir and I haven’t been on air at GB News since!

But that shouldn’t stop me from speaking freely – something I hope Suella and my erstwhile colleagues at the “home of free speech,” and I can all agree on.

Perhaps more on that another time.

For now, let’s focus on Braverman’s recent comments in The Telegraph – specifically, her claim that she can never be “truly” English. What’s striking isn’t just the statement itself but how selectively she embraces her British Asian identity. She seems to acknowledge it only when politically useful.

Her claims stand in stark contrast to an old Tory campaign poster I’ve always admired – Black and Asian immigrants standing proudly beside the slogan: “Labour says they’re Black, Tories say they’re British.” Or Norman Tebbit’s infamous Tebbit Test, when, back in 1990, he argued that whether ethnic minorities in Britain supported the England cricket team – or the team of their ancestral homeland – could be a measure of how “truly” British they are. That message – rooted in civic nationalism – feels completely at odds with Braverman’s stance that she will never be English.

Watching her interviews, particularly with the BBC’s Nick Robinson on Political Thinking, is revealing. She appears torn between conflicting personas and contradicting herself. I’ve met her, and personally, I found her warm and charming. But in media environments, she can seem erratic – lurching from one provocation to another with little consistency.

Take that Political Thinking interview. At first, she insisted she had never experienced racism – a convenient stance, given her political positioning. Yet under Robinson’s persistent questioning, she admitted that she had been called the P-word.

I recognise that instinct – because I’ve done it myself. Once, debating with a white South African friend, I played devil’s advocate and told him I was more African than he was. He tore me apart. I didn’t actually believe what I was saying – I just wanted to provoke a reaction. And in my opinion, that’s what Braverman does too. I think she knows better, but she also knows what will generate media attention.

What’s puzzling is why Suella Braverman seems so reluctant to call herself English. Rishi Sunak has no such hesitation – when asked about this (also by Nick Robinson) he practically rolled his eyes and said, “Of course I’m English… I found the whole thing slightly ridiculous.” Priti Patel, too, had no qualms affirming the same on Sky News.

So what exactly is Braverman waiting for? A parliamentary motion? A royal proclamation? The ghost of John Bull to give his blessing? In the eyes of many conservatives and Britons alike, she is English. And if she’s seeking permission, let me put it plainly: Suella, you are English.

As The Times’ Fraser Nelson put it:

“No one would seriously say Humza Yousaf is not really Scottish – it’s an inclusive identity. There are two definitions: ethnic and civic. The same is true for Englishness.”

I agree.

I consider myself English – not just because half my family is white English, but because I am culturally and civically English. I grew up here. I pay taxes here. I vote in English elections. I speak English (the King’s English), follow English customs, and worship weekly at my local Church of England. If I moved to my grandfather’s native Ghana, I’d be called obruni – a term Ghanaians use for foreigners and white people. If I’m not English, then what am I? Stateless?

A 2021 British Future poll found that 77  per cent of white people in England agreed that “being English is open to people of different ethnic backgrounds.” Among ethnic minorities, 68  per cent shared this view.

To be blunt – I think this battle is mostly in Braverman’s head. Britain has moved on.

Braverman reminds me of my father. And when he expresses similar views, I tell him plainly: Daddy, you’re wrong. As someone who is biologically English, let me say this to Suella, and to our uncles and aunties like her: Whether you choose to call yourself English is your choice. But if you don’t, that’s your internal issue – not society’s problem. And I’d advise against projecting your own identity struggles onto the rest of us.

This mindset reminds me of those who claim “all white people are racist” or “Britain is irrevocably institutionally racist.” In my view, these are personal projections, not objective truths.

My white cousins don’t think I’m any less English than they are. My black cousins don’t think I’m any more English than they are. It’s that simple.

Braverman’s views on Englishness aren’t a sign of the times. They’re a sign of her age. Among some ethnic minorities of her generation, these attitudes are common, but they reflect the world they were raised in – not the one we live in today.

If her logic held up, then the proud Anglo-Saxon, Nigel Farage, would be as English as frog’s legs thanks to his Huguenot ancestry – along with much of the aristocracy, whose roots trace back to Norman invaders.

And what about the actual Angles and Saxons? They’d need to brush up on their German – because by ethnic standards, they’d be about as English as bratwurst. As for the Vikings? They too arrived on small boats from mainland Europe – making the Viking conquest the original “Channel crisis.”

So before Braverman takes on society’s battles, I believe she must settle the one within herself.

And that’s why I’m praying for Suella.

May the Lord grant her the strength to stand firm in truth, the guidance to see beyond headlines and political ambition, the wisdom to understand herself fully, and the peace to embrace who she truly is.

Amen.