The new British Prime Minister Liz Truss<\/a> has selected a cabinet<\/a>where for the first time a white man<\/a> will not hold one of the country\u2019s four most important ministerial positions.<\/a><\/p>\n Truss appointed Kwasi Kwarteng \u2014 whose parents came from Ghana in the 1960s \u2014 as Britain\u2019s first Black finance minister while James Cleverly is the first Black foreign minister.<\/p>\n Cleverly, whose mother hails from Sierra Leone and whose father is white, has in the past spoken about being bullied as a mixed-race child and has said the party needs to do more to attract Black voters.<\/p>\n Suella Braverman, whose parents came to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius six decades ago, succeeds Priti Patel as the second ethnic minority home secretary, or interior minister, where she will be responsible for police and immigration.<\/p>\n The growing diversity is in part thanks to a push by the Conservative Party in recent years to put forward a more varied set of candidates for parliament.<\/p>\n British governments have until a few decades ago been made up of mostly white men. It took until 2002 for Britain to appoint its first ethnic minority cabinet minister when Paul Boateng was appointed chief secretary to the Treasury.<\/p>\n Rishi Sunak, whose parents came from India, was Kwarteng\u2019s predecessor in the finance job and the runner-up to Truss in the leadership context.<\/p>\n \u201cPolitics has set the pace. We now treat it as normal, this diversity,\u201d said Sunder Katwala, director of non-partisan think-tank British Future, which focuses on migration and identity. \u201cThe pace of change is extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the upper ranks of business, the judiciary, the civil service and army are all still predominately white.<\/p>\n And despite the party\u2019s diversity campaign, only a quarter of Conservative members of parliament are women and 6% from minority backgrounds. Critics also pointed out that there was little diversity in the Conservative ranks when it came to education and class, with the exclusive Eton College and universities of Oxford and Cambridge still serving as a supply line for its members and government ministers.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the Conservatives have the best track record of political firsts among the main political parties, including appointing the first Jewish prime minister in Benjamin Disraeli in 1868.<\/p>\n![\"Image:](\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2022-09\/220907-suella-braverman-mb-0925-348fb7.jpg\")
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