'Navel-gazing distraction': Kemi Badenoch hits out at Burnham for being open to a formal British apology for slavery
Andy Burnham proposed a "structured dialogue" with affected countries on any formal apology, while firmly ruling out financial reparations ahead of the Commonwealth summit.Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade prompted Andy Burnham to declare himself open to a formal state apology — a position no previous prime minister had taken.King Charles was welcomed to Guyana by President Mohamed Irfaan Ali ahead of a State Reception marking 60 years of UK-Guyana relations, with pop star Eddy Grant and Foreign Secretary David Lammy among the guests at the…King Charles, whose visit to the region precedes next week's Commonwealth summit, faces protests in St John's where campaigners have vowed the reparations issue will not be dodged.
Badenoch condemned Burnham's willingness to issue a formal state apology for slavery as a "navel-gazing distraction," asking whether Caribbean nations would seek the same apology from the descendants of African kingdoms and merchants who captured and sold enslaved people. In a Guardian article, Burnham called for a "structured dialogue" with those affected and said he was "open" to a formal apology, though he ruled out financial reparations, arguing that British people today "played no personal part" in historical wrongs.
Burnham travels to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda next week, where reparations demands are expected to be pushed by Caribbean leaders.
King Charles, already in the Caribbean, said it was 'only right' to acknowledge 'great suffering and injustices of the past,' while Guyana's President Ali described a royal apology as 'the next step.'
Badenoch pointed to Tony Blair's 2006 expression of 'deep sorrow and regret' as sufficient, arguing Britain 'has already confronted its history.'
