The remaking of the Sun is a case study in the remarkable liberalisation of British society. Between 1990 and 2022 the share of Britons who said they wouldn’t live next door to someone with AIDS fell from 23% to 4%, according to a survey led by Bobby Duffy of King’s College London; the proportion who would not want a neighbour of a different race fell from 9% to 1%. The share of Britons who think a woman’s job is to look after the home has gone from 48% to 9% since 1987, according to the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey. Support for same-sex relationships has soared; that for the death penalty has slumped. (Though support for a permissive legal regime for transgender people has fallen since 2016.)
The Tory party’s brewing leadership contest is a case in point. Kemi Badenoch, the front-runner in any post-election battle to succeed Rishi Sunak, is a determined crusader against wokery. The fact she describes herself as “to all intents and purposes a first-generation immigrant”—she was raised in Nigeria—reflects a broadened idea of Britishness among activists.