Katharine Birbalsingh says unity, not diversity, is Britain's strength

Katharine Birbalsingh used an interview on BBC Two's Politics Live to argue that diversity is not Britain's strength and that unity is. She said her book was written for people on the centre right and centre left. She argued that the centre is often silenced between ethno-nationalists who believe ancestry is needed to belong and left identitarians focused on DEI, white privilege and anti-racism.

On the programme, she said schools should teach British history and literature. She said rituals such as singing God Save the King help children feel they belong. She gave the example of flag days, when children bring in a flag from their country, but said their country is Britain. She added that children can be proud of their heritage, noting that her mother is Jamaican and her father is Guyanese, but that she is British. She said that if children do not feel they belong, they will find it harder to succeed and the country will find it harder to get on.

Jeevan, another guest, disagreed that integration had failed. He said Britain is the country of Churchill and Sadiq Khan, of Elgar and Stormzy, and of churches, mosques and football stands. He described a country where different communities share common values, citing the defeat of fascism in the Second World War and the ability to read Shakespeare and Zadie Smith. He said his parents had come to the UK as children and that home, education and the country had helped him integrate.

Birbalsingh responded that Jeevan's account did not match the reality she sees. She told BBC Two that 40% of Gen Zers believe Churchill was a racist and only 33% know what the Battle of Britain was. She also said half of young people think Britain was founded on racism.

Jack, a parliamentary aide to Kemi Badenoch, said modern Britain is a multi-ethnic state and that he agreed unity is the country's strength. He argued that multiculturalism as led by the left and right had been naive and had failed to uphold core values. He said Kemi Badenoch had powerfully dismissed ethno-nationalism in a speech. He also said identity politics and critical race theory had led some young people to views about Churchill that made a multi-ethnic society harder to build. He called for unity to be taught more muscularly in schools. He said the British state should be more assertive in removing governors and teachers in Batley, where a teacher was forced into hiding.