How enslavement became state-backed operation supported by Conservative and Lib Dem forerunners

Quamina, who was enslaved and trafficked as a child with his mother. His son Jack led the 1823 Demerara rebellion. Left, from top, Robert Peel, John Gladstone and King James II. Composite: Guardian/Palesa Monareng View image in fullscreen Quamina, who was enslaved and trafficked as a child with his mother. His son Jack led the 1823 Demerara rebellion. Left, from top, Robert Peel, John Gladstone and King James II. Composite: Guardian/Palesa Monareng How enslavement became state-backed operation supported a British culture of celebrating the abolition of slavery without acknowledging that the country enslaved and trafficked millions of African people for centuries. The newly published Register of British Slave Traders, which documents the thousands of investors in Britain’s near 250-year trafficking of more than 3 million enslaved African people, shows that it was a state-backed operation, fully supported , the Tories and Whigs – the forerunners of today’s Conservatives and Liberal Democrats respectively. Many Tory and Whig MPs were investors in the slave trade, the register shows, and many also owned plantations. But when the movement to abolish the slave trade and enslavement grew in the late 18th century, the Whigs generally moved towards supporting abolition, while Tory governments opposed and delayed it for decades. The Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, said in response to the Guardian’s reporting of this history that he supported “full transparency” and it was “vital that we face up to the full truth of Britain’s history”. The Conservative party referred the Guardian to a post on X , Kemi Badenoch, in March, in response to a UN declaration that the historic enslavement and trafficking of African people was “the gravest crime against humanity” and reparations should be discussed. “Britain led the fight to end slavery,” Badenoch posted. “We shouldn’t be paying for a crime we helped eradicate and still fight today.” More than 50 Tory MPs and about 50 Whig MPs are identified in the register as historic slave traders. Most invested in Britain’s state-backed Royal African Company (RAC) and its predecessors, and some were involved in the South Sea Company. View image in fullscreen Previously enslaved people on their way to work in a cotton field on St Helena Island, circa 1863-66. The involvement of Tories in the RAC was rooted in the foundation of the party. The original Tory faction formed during the 1679 exclusion crisis, in support of the then Duke of York being crowned King James II.