Wolverhampton MP tells Tories to broaden appeal to win
The Conservative party has to broaden its appeal and recruit more ethnic minorities if it is to win a majority at the next election, a Wolverhampton MP has said.
Paul Uppal took Wolverhampton South West – a seat once held by Enoch Powell – from Labour at the last General Election with a 691 majority. One of David Cameron's rising stars, treasury minister Sajid Javid, told the Prime Minister that Powell's legacy still taints Tories.
Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech on immigration can still spark furious debate 45 years on.
Mr Javid said that the damage done to the party's image in the 1970s, particularly by Enoch Powell, was something "we still haven't been able to shake off".
As a British Asian Conservative in Powell's old constituency, Mr Uppal is advising Tories on how to reach out to minority communities who typically align themselves with Labour.
He wants more black and Asian faces on Tory Commons benches, but does not advocate positive discrimination, where minority candidates get preferential treatment.
He said: "I won in Enoch Powell's old seat and hopefully people see something positive in that.
"There is a delicious irony in that my majority at the 2010 election, 691, is exactly the same as Enoch Powell's when he won for the first time in 1950.
"But no-one has ever suggested that I am there because I ticked a box. If we as a party do not tackle this issue we will be talking about losing seats we always considered safe within 10 years, because the demographics are changing so rapidly.
"It's important for us as a party to represent modern Britain."
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