'Britain’s wokest council' tells staff to take quiz to check their privilege

4 April 2025, 08:19

A Labour council has told staff to take a ‘privilege’ quiz as part of efforts to tackle unconscious bias.

Westminster Council is offering staff an online ‘privilege walk’ - a quiz where people are asked to assess their own lives based on factors like whether your parents read to you, if you drive a new car, and whether you have ever been stopped and searched, the Telegraph reports.

The council is also trying to boost recruitment of ‘global majority’ candidates - so called because black, Asian and multiple ethnic people make up 85 per cent of the world’s population.

Managers who fail to shortlist global majority candidates have to explain themselves to the council’s chief executive Stuart Love ‘before proceeding further.’

Last year Mr Love told Management Today that he embraced ‘wokeness’ - ‘particularly in local government,’ he said.

A Westminster council spokesman said: “Westminster city council’s recruitment policies are industry standard, entirely consistent with UK employment law and have been in place for a number of years.

"In keeping with many public sector and private companies, we are committed to ensuring all candidates can compete for a range of roles and we actively promote ourselves as an inclusive employer.

“This PowerPoint presentation, which we believe was available on the council’s staff intranet from 2021, does not form any part of our formal policy, training or recruitment process.”