'We've had enough of apologising': Kemi Badenoch warns Burnham is piling pressure on the King over slavery apology
The King and Queen at St John's Pentecostal Church House of Restoration in Antigua and Barbuda, as Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy insisted any apology must be a prelude to "concrete steps," squeezing Burnham from both flanks.The King and Queen at a church service in Antigua and Barbuda, where Andy Burnham's surprise declaration that he was "open" to a formal slavery apology put the King under constitutional pressure ahead of the Commonwealth summit.The King and Queen joined Antiguans and Barbudans for a church service marking the 45th anniversary of Independence and celebrating the Commonwealth.Kemi Badenoch branded the move a "navel-gazing distraction" that puts the King under constitutional pressurePrime Minister Andy Burnham with his wife, Marie-France van Heel, at a Diwali celebration at 10 Downing Street, as Kemi Badenoch warned his slavery-apology pivot would see Caribbean nations pocket any apology and immediately demand billions more.Suella Braverman, Reform's spokesperson, warned that Andy Burnham's apology pivot was "virtue signalling" and "dangerous," comparing it to "how the Chagos disaster started.
Burnham blindsided his own aides by declaring he was "open" to a formal state apology for slavery ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua next week, reversing a position journalists travelling with the King had been assured of "as late as Thursday evening." Kemi Badenoch branded the move a "navel-gazing distraction" that puts the King under constitutional pressure, warning Caribbean nations will pocket any apology and immediately demand billions more.
Barbados PM Mia Mottley welcomed Burnham's words as "breaking new ground" — exactly the reparations-demand domino Badenoch warned of.
Suella Braverman warned it is "how the Chagos disaster started," saying a formal apology could legally bind Britain to financial reparations.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy pressed from the other side, insisting any apology must be a prelude to "concrete steps" — leaving Burnham squeezed from both flanks.
