April 1 (UPI) — Samuel Kasumu, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief racial adviser, plans to resign following a much-criticized report that details structural racism in the country.
Kasumu, the prime minister’s special adviser for civil society and communities, will leave his role in May and informed colleagues of his decision on Wednesday.
A spokesman for Johnson said Kasumu’s departure was not linked to the report this week by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities that concluded Britain no longer has a system that’s “rigged” against ethnic minorities.
The 258-page report also said that the commission found that many children of color performed as well or better than White children in British schools, that diversity has increased in many British professions and that the pay gap between White workers and workers of color in Britain has narrowed to 2.3%.
The report has been heavily criticized. Former British racial adviser Simon Woolley said the analysis was “steeped in denial.”
Kasumu, who is Black, attempted to resign in February when he’d raised concerns to Johnson about the conduct of equalities minister Kemi Badenoch and suggested she may have broken ministerial code when she publicly criticized a Black journalist on social media.
Kasumu told Johnson at the time that tensions over race policies within Downing Street had become “unbearable”.
“I believe the ministerial code was breached. However, more concerning than the act, was the lack of response internally,” he said then, according to The Guardian.
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