The Tory chairman has denounced what he claims is a “painful woke psychodrama” sweeping the west and sapping its confidence, arguing that people should not be “obsessing” over pronouns or “trying to decolonise” maths.
Oliver Dowden, a senior Conservative and former culture secretary, made the remarks on “cancel culture” in a speech to the Heritage Foundation, a rightwing US thinktank.
Dowden said “woke” ideology was a “dangerous form of decadence” at a time when “our attention should be focused on external foes”.
He said a west “confident in its values” would not be “obsessing over pronouns or indeed seeking to decolonise mathematics”, in comments that appear to mock the concerns of campaigners for trans rights and those pushing to confront the legacy of colonialism.
Since entering No 10, Boris Johnson has hired or promoted several “anti-woke warriors”, including Munira Mirza, his former policy chief, who resigned this month, Kemi Badenoch, an equalities minister, and Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary.
However, Dowden’s preoccupation with the subject suggests the Tories could be willing to make it a platform of their next election campaign.
He gave a speech at the Conservative party conference last year hitting out at “woke aggression” and cancel culture, which he described as “bullying and haranguing of individuals” for their views. He also claimed that Labour “has got woke running through it like a stick of Brighton rock”.
In his speech on Monday, Dowden sought to suggest that “woke” ideology was weakening the west at a time when it is facing threats from aggressive states such as Russia. “Rogue states are seeking to challenge the international order. And at the precise point when our resolve ought to be strongest, a pernicious new ideology is sweeping our societies,” Dowden said.
“It goes by many names. In Britain, its adherents sometimes describe themselves as ‘social justice warriors’. They claim to be ‘woke’, awakened to the so-called truths of our societies. But wherever they are found, they pursue a common policy inimical to freedom.”
He claimed “woke” ideology was now “everywhere”.
“It’s in our universities, but also in our schools. In government bodies, but also in corporations. In social science faculties, but also in the hard sciences,” Dowden said. “But I tell you, it is a dangerous form of decadence. Just when our attention should be focused on external foes, we seem to have entered this period of extreme introspection and self-criticism.
“And it really does threaten to sap our societies of their own self-confidence. Just when we should be showcasing the vitality of our values, and the strength of democratic societies, we seem to be willing to abandon those values for the sake of appeasing this new groupthink.”
Dowden said the west had become “obsessed by what divides us rather than what unites us”.
He added: “The US and the UK may certainly be very different societies. But we are joined by the same fundamental values. Neither of us can afford the luxury of indulging in this painful woke psychodrama … Too many people have already fallen for the dismal argument that standing up for freedom is reactionary or that somehow it’s kind or virtuous to submit to these self-righteous dogmas. Well, it plainly is not.”