So where will the Chancellor, John Healey, find the extra trillions to pay the penalty now demanded of the British taxpayer – by a Labour Prime Minister, no less?
asserted
Chancellor → find → Minister
The answer, according to the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, is clear enough: get up and leave the table.
uncertain
answer → accord → table
In sitting down for 'dialogue', however, Andy Burnham now faces an invoice of between $7trillion and $24trillion (or £5trillion and £18trillion) – the estimated cost of the 'Ten-Point Plan' for 'reparatory justice' drawn up by the 15 nations of the Caribbean.
asserted
Burnham → sit → Caribbean
It includes subsidising their health and education services, plus the costs of 'psychological rehabilitation', debt cancellation and 'monetary compensation' for centuries of 'harm'.
asserted
It → include → harm
The Prime Minister wrote that he was 'open' to making an apology for Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade and a 'structured dialogue' on the issue.
asserted
he → write → issue
Financial reparations, he added, were 'not the right answer'.
asserted
he → add → ?
Within hours, his fellow Labour PM, Philip Pierre of St Lucia, had fired off a firm riposte as chair of CARICOM, the regional bloc.
asserted
PM → fire → CARICOM
Mr Pierre stated that a mere apology, while welcome, was just the start.
asserted
apology → state → ?
Mr Burnham must come to the table ready to discuss 'every element of the Ten-Point Plan'.
asserted
Burnham → come → Plan
The Caribbean, he said clearly, 'does not accept that reparations are 'not the right answer' '.
asserted
reparations → say → ?
And so a tricky week has just got trickier for the King, who opens the summit tomorrow.
asserted
who → get → summit
For, like St Lucia, most of the 15 members of CARICOM now lining up to biff Britain have the monarch as their head of state.
asserted
most → line → state
I would argue that Kemi Badenoch is very well placed to reboot the UK's relations with today's Commonwealth, writes Robert Hardman
What's more, the King is also head of the Commonwealth.
asserted
King → argue → Commonwealth
This now faces the sort of schism not seen since the days when Margaret Thatcher fought the other member states over sanctions against apartheid-era South Africa.
asserted
Thatcher → face → Africa
Even Mrs Thatcher did not go as far as Kemi Badenoch went this weekend when she became the first Tory leader to contemplate walking away from the 56-nation post-imperial 'club'.
asserted
she → go → club
She accused Mr Burnham of 'navel-gazing' over British history 'as if we haven't done enough of that'; she asked why Commonwealth leaders were not demanding apologies from 'the descendants of African kingdoms' who sold their neighbours into slavery; she asked why, after $100billion dollars (£75billion) of debt relief in the past 25 years, the same countries were getting poorer; and after pointing out that Tony Blair had expressed deep sorrow for the slave trade nearly 20 years ago, she warned: 'If every Commonwealth summit becomes an exercise in presenting Britain with demands for cash, then we need to start asking if it is worth the effort.'
asserted
it → accuse → cash
It also raises the intriguing question of what the Commonwealth would do if Britain did another Brexit – a 'Coxit' perhaps – since its HQ is in London.
asserted
HQ → raise → London
In fact, I would argue that Mrs Badenoch is very well placed to reboot the UK's relations with today's Commonwealth.
asserted
Badenoch → argue → Commonwealth
British-born to Nigerian parents, she hails from two of its largest and most important nations and has none of the diffidence which afflicts many white liberal politicians terrified of being called 'colonial' – or worse – for arguing with erstwhile imperial territories.
asserted
which → bear → territories
I also think that she is more in tune with Commonwealth thinking than either Mr Burnham or those canny CARICOM politicians eyeing up juicy concessions from the new, eager-to-please nice guy in No10.
asserted
she → think → No10
Most leaders want to talk trade.
asserted
leaders → want → trade
This is where the Commonwealth works best – as a global network for entrepreneurs or doctors or accountants or charities (and the rest) who share the same language and legal DNA.
asserted
who → work → language
They would much rather meet Charles III than berate his five-times great-grandfather, George III.
asserted
They → meet → grandfather
It has been interesting, if under-reported, that the crowds during last week's royal tour of the Caribbean have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.
asserted
crowds → report → Caribbean
The protests demanding reparations have been tiny (one, in the Bahamian capital, Nassau, attracted three people).
asserted
one → demand → people
The King is not going to apologise because, in the UK, apologies come from the Government.
asserted
apologies → go → Government
And he is now even more constrained about what he can say on the issue since Mr Burnham has turned this into a party political issue in Britain, dividing Labour and the Tories.
asserted
Burnham → say → Labour
As a force for unity, he will also be aware of the dire social fallout if the hard-pressed UK descendants of mill workers and farmhands are told to pay many billions in tax to the descendants of enslaved plantation workers whose misery enriched just a handful of toffs.
asserted
misery → press → toffs
First, CARICOM and its allies have just pushed through a UN resolution that the slave trade across the Atlantic (nowhere else) was the 'gravest crime against humanity'.
asserted
trade → push → humanity
Lawyers are limbering up.
asserted
Lawyers → limber → ?
Second, this weekend's CARICOM statement calls on the UK not only to pay compensation for the slave trade but for the 'colonialism' that came afterwards – 'workers who were brought from India and China'.
asserted
who → call → India
Having apologised to the Caribbean, Andy Burnham will instantly face calls to apologise to some of the most populous nations on Earth.
asserted
Burnham → apologise → Earth
Antigua's PM welcomes Charles - then says he wants to REMOVE him as head of state, blasts Kemi Badenoch and demands UK pay huge reparations over slavery 'so there isn't a repeat'
-
asserted
UK → welcome → slavery
This is a man ill-suited to the world stage
-
asserted
This → suit → stage
Andy Burnham says he is 'open' to UK making a formal apology for slavery
-
asserted
UK → say → slavery
Burnham faces Labour calls to go further after paving way for slave trade apology
asserted
Burnham → face → apology
Prime Minister's staggering naivety has left Charles in a diplomatic quagmire
-
asserted
naivety → leave → quagmire
Amid calls for an apology and huge payout for Britain's role in the slave trade 300 years ago, King placed in impossible position by self–lacerating Church of England leaders determined to splurge £100m on reparations
-
asserted
King → place → reparations
Burnham slave trade pledge sparks new reparations row for the King on Caribbean tour as PM's ill–timed intervention triggers fresh calls for billions
asserted
intervention → spark → billions
Campaigner accuses King Charles of 'walking in a crime scene' on his Caribbean tour
- READ MORE: Clumsy Burnham has embarrassed the King – and himself – over slavery
asserted
Burnham → accuse → slavery
The Aporia
