London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 22, 2025

UK doubles number of people from minority ethnic backgrounds in prominent roles

UK doubles number of people from minority ethnic backgrounds in prominent roles

Campaigners praise improvement since 2017, but warn that some sectors show zero progress or ‘glacial’ change
The number of people from ethnic minority backgrounds in prominent public positions has more than doubled in the past four years, according to analysis from an influential campaign group.

There were 73 black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) faces in the UK’s top political, public, cultural and media sectors on 23 July 2021, according to data collated by Operation Black Vote (OBV). This is more than twice the 36 public figures found by the same campaigners in 2017.

However, this means every person from a BAME background who holds such a position could fit on a Routemaster double decker bus – with room to spare. The project’s coordinator warned that “the struggle continues”, even if the trend is positive. About 14% of the UK’s population is from a BAME background, according to figures from Diversity UK.

The list of 1,100 powerful figures shows 6.3% were from ethnic minorities, with only 19 (1.6%) BAME women. This is a stark difference to 2017 when 3.4% were from ethnic minorities and just seven (0.7%) were BAME women.

Some sectors have made more progress than others. The greatest shift has been in politics, which has seen significant and positive changes from Labour and the Conservatives, with the prime minister appointing a record number of BAME cabinet members (six) and ministers (seven) to his government. Labour, meanwhile, boasted a record number of BAME mayors (four) and council leaders (11).

Other small but significant changes occurred in education with six BAME vice-chancellors appointed to universities; three people from minority backgrounds taking the helm of the top NHS trusts and six BAME bosses of FTSE 100 firms.

However, in other areas the situation remained stagnant – the police, the supreme court and the security services continued to have a complete absence of non-white leaders at the top.

Simon Woolley, director and co-founder of OBV, said the death of George Floyd and unprecedented Black Lives Matters protests had resulted in some deep and, at times, uncomfortable conversations about race inequality across a number of different organisations.

“These conversation had almost never been heard before,” said Woolley. “OBV’s groundbreaking data would suggest that those conversations are now translating into real change in regards to what power looks like.”

However Woolley said the Colour of Power data, had also “painfully highlighted” those categories where there is still zero progress or glacial change”.

“The challenge and hope is to keep the positive momentum going from strength to strength. That must include conversation, acknowledgment and positive action. When this occurs everyone benefits,” he said.

The data analysis completed in July looked at the ethnicity of more than 1,100 individuals across 39 categories covering politics and the civil service; policing, defence and the judiciary; FTSE companies and groups representing business; professional services including the heads of law, accountancy, advertising, consulting and publishing firms; arts bodies; media; trade unions; top universities; sporting bodies and NHS trusts.

Ashok Viswanathan, the Colour of Power coordinator, said the project had seen significant change since the 2017 poll but there was still work to be done as the new figures were still only a 50% reflection of modern society.

“Regretfully there are some institutions that are still solely white and largely male four years on and after the summer of Black Lives Matter. The struggle continues,” he added.

In 2017 OBV found that barely 3% of Britain’s most powerful and influential people were from minority ethnic groups which highlighted a disconnect with the composition of the UK population, almost 13% of whom have a minority background.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
Corrupt UK Politician Ed Davey Demands Elon Musk’s Arrest for Supporting Democracy
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Alibaba Debuts Open-Source Deep Research Agent with Benchmarks Rivaling OpenAI
Marcos Faces Legacy-Defining Crisis as Flood Projects Scandal Sparks Massive Tide of Protests
China’s Micro-Drama Boom Turns Stalled Real Estate Projects into Lavish Film Sets
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
'Company Got 5,189 H-1B Visas, Then Laid Off 16,000 Americans': US Defends New $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Golf legend tells Omar she should be 'sent back to Somalia' after her Kirk comments
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
Documents Reveal Mandelson Failed to Declare Epstein-Funded Flights as MP in 2003
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Harris Memoir Sparks Backlash from Democrats for Blunt Critiques in ‘107 Days’
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Japan’s ‘Death-Tainted’ Homes Gain Appeal as Prices Soar in Tokyo
Massive Attack Withdraws from Spotify Over Daniel Ek’s €600M Defence-AI Investment
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders Third Lethal Strike on Drug-Trafficking Vessel as U.S. Expands Maritime Counter-Narcotics Operations
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
Why Google Search Is Fading and AI Is Taking Its Place
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Fifteen-Billion-Dollar Suit Against New York Times, Orders Refile
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
DeepSeek Claims R1 Model Trained for only $294,000, Sparking Global Debate Over China’s AI Capabilities
SoftBank Vision Fund to Cut Nearly Twenty Percent of Staff in Bold AI Strategy Shift
Intel’s Next-Gen Manufacturing Gets a Lifeline from Nvidia’s Strategic $5B Deal
Erika Kirk Elected CEO of Turning Point USA After Husband Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
×