How the British state perpetuates woke activism

The Conservative Party leadership contest has brought about a discussion on how the party can combat social leftism. From Kemi Badenoch raising awareness about the Tavistock gender identity clinic scandal and how children are subjected to transgender ideology, to Rishi Sunak claiming the Equality Act is a “trojan horse” to push “woke nonsense”, the party is starting to wake up to the fact that ‘wokeness’ has captured Britain’s institutions.

If the Conservatives are serious about defeating social leftism, they need to stop shovelling dirt with a spoon and get the shovel out. Despite over a decade of a Conservative government, the Tories have yet to push out much socially conservative policy.

It is not enough for Conservative MPs to whine about the increase in diversity and inclusion officers without recognising why they are there. The elephant in the room is that the influx of these positions has been brought about by the Equality Act 2010. This act obliged public bodies to “encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any other activity in which participation by such persons is disproportionately low” as well as require public bodies to publish measurable “equity objectives” (Section 149). This has created the diversity bureaucracy we see today and led to a 71 per cent increase in diversity roles since 2015.

Not only has this led to companies adopting positive discrimination in order to comply with these de facto quotas but to adopt left wing identity politics driven training in their business. It is now standard practices for businesses to offer “unconscious bias training” and learn how to be more “inclusive”. We can see this most notably in the public sector, for example the Ministry of Defence, which preached: “If we want to be the best Armed Forces, then the only way to go is Feminist”. Or the NHS Equality Chief leading a mutiny against single sex spaces in hospital wards. The Conservatives should use their majority and repeal the Equality Act 2010 if they are serious about defeating this Gramscian takeover.

The government has also been generous in providing leftist lobby groups with grants. According to the Taxpayer’s Alliance, from 2019 to 2021, Stonewall (which recently stated that two-year-olds can be transgender) has received over half a million in public sector grants and loans which have been funded by the taxpayer. These grants and loans are also provided to Gendered Intelligence, Hope Not Hate, U.K Black Pride, Black Lives Matter and Mermaids. These groups promote divisive identity politics, encourage transgender ideology and critical race theory. Why is the taxpayer forced to fund organisations which have antithetical values to the government they’ve elected in?

While it is important to raise awareness of single events of wokeism like the NHS removing the word “woman” or the BBC complaining about whiteness, it is much more effective to treat the cause than the symptoms. The state has done more to push social leftism on the country than any private organisation by both legislating and funding woke activism. Until the Conservative Party recognises these threats, Britain will continue to be the frog boiling in water as leftism continues to capture every institution.