Johnson's ethnic minority adviser Samuel Kasumu steps down

SAMUEL KASUMU, prime minister Boris Johnson's senior adviser on ethnic minorities will leave the role next month.

He had previously resigned in February, before retracting his decision.

His departure from the role comes a day after the publication of a government-backed report on race equality in the country. However, Downing Street has denied that his exit is not linked to the report.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED), was set up last year after Black Lives Matter protests last summer - said the UK "no longer" had a system rigged against minorities.

The findings of the review have been criticised, with the Labour accusing the government of downplaying institutional racism.

Kasumu has worked for the government since 2019 and in his February resignation letter he had accused the Conservatives of pursuing a politics steeped in division".

He retracted the letter, following talks with vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi.

"Any suggestion that this decision has been made this week or that this is linked to the CRED report is completely inaccurate," a government spokesman said responding to Kasumu's leaving.

Labour's shadow equalities secretary Marsha de Cordova called the CRED report "divisive," adding it was "no wonder" the government was "losing the expertise from their team".

"To have your most senior advisor on ethnic minorities quit as you publish a so-called landmark report on race in the UK is telling of how far removed the Tories are from the everyday lived experiences of Black, Asian and ethnic minority people," she said.

The report, which was published on Wednesday (31), said the UK was not yet a "post-racial country," and added that references to racism in the UK being "institutional" or "structural" had become confusing, and had sometimes been used without enough evidence.

This has led to criticism from unions, charities and opposition politicians - which have accused the commission of downplaying the role of wider factors in racial inequalities.