Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said Britain should not issue a formal apology for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, describing such an apology as a “navel-gazing distraction” that would be used as a lever for financial compensation.

Speaking on Sunday, Badenoch said slavery was an evil “in which people from every continent and region participated” and that leaders should be “honest about the whole history, not select the parts that are politically convenient today, especially given Britain’s leading role in ending the transatlantic slave trade.”

She was responding to reports that Prime Minister Andy Burnham is considering a formal apology ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, CHOGM, in Antigua and Barbuda next week.

Writing in the Guardian, Burnham said there would not be reparations in the form of financial compensation, but that he was prepared to engage on helping poorer countries restructure debt on more favourable terms.

In a post on social media, Badenoch asked: “If Caribbean countries are asking Britain for a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, will they also be asking the same of the descendants of African kingdoms, rulers and merchants who captured, sold and profited from the trade?”

She said Burnham’s apology was unnecessary given comments made by Tony Blair two decades ago.

“The Commonwealth should be looking forward, not endlessly backwards,” she wrote.

Speaking to Sky News, Badenoch said: “What I’m worried about is that this Chogm summit is yet another opportunity for people to start asking Britain for money because of the slave trade. We need to start looking at how we can bring the Commonwealth together – start looking forwards, not backwards.

“I don’t think we should be giving any money to compensate people for the slave trade, and I don’t think that Andy Burnham needs to be apologising because it is a lever to wedge open the door to ask for cash.”

She also questioned whether future leaders should attend the Commonwealth summit, saying it was now dominated by calls for reparations.

Chancellor John Healey told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that it would be unfair for British people to bear financial liability for reparations when they had “no role” in the slave trade.

“The prime minister has said, look, we are open to a discussion about an apology. He feels that’s the right thing, particularly ahead of the Commonwealth leaders’ conference,” Healey said.

“But he doesn’t believe that reparations are the right approach, and considering a formal apology doesn’t mean accepting that British people now should accept the financial liability for any part in things that happened hundreds of years ago, in which they had no role.”

The debate comes ahead of CHOGM in Antigua, where King Charles is expected to discuss the legacy of slavery with Commonwealth leaders.

[theguardian.com]