Cambridge don in jibe over slavery reparations as he accuses opponents of showing ignorance and stupidity

• Dr Michael Banner said ‘ignorance’ is causing a backlash against reparations 
• The Trinity College don said reparations should be paid to the West Indies
• He claimed books in schools omit details of Britain’s involvement in slavery 

A Cambridge don has claimed people who oppose paying slavery reparations are displaying ‘ignorance’ and ‘stupidity’.

The Revd Dr Michael Banner, a dean at Trinity College, believes a lack of education in schools is leading to a backlash against reparations. The academic has called for both Britain and Cambridge University to pay money to make amends for the past.

Some other academics disagree, arguing that most white Britons are descended from poor disenfranchised workers, not those who were made rich from slaves.

But yesterday Dr Banner told a slavery conference at Cambridge he was tired of ‘knee-jerk’ opposition to his idea. He said: ‘Reparations are due to the West Indies from the United Kingdom.

‘In the absence of government action, a responsibility devolves [to] the bodies and institutions which benefited from links with enslavement, to act.’ 

The Revd Dr Michael Banner, a dean at Trinity College, Cambridge (pictured) believes a lack of education in schools is leading to a backlash against reparations

He said Trinity College, where he is director of studies in theology, should lead, given a recent inquiry showing Cambridge’s links to slavery. Last week, the university published a report showing it ‘benefited’ from the practice.

Dr Banner added: ‘A somewhat knee-jerk repudiation of the case for reparations, in Britain at least… depends on an ignorance of the very depth and breadth of this country’s – and its institutions’ – connections with slavery.’

He said even books used in schools today omit details of Britain’s involvement in slavery. 

He even claimed fellow dons at Cambridge had a lack of knowledge on the matter. ‘What is common is the almost absolute ignorance on the subject,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to name names, but people you’d have thought would know about it know absolutely nothing.

‘[There are] stupid responses to reparations, very many stupid, knee-jerk responses to reparations, that there’s no case for them.’

The three-day conference, titled ‘Envisioning reparations: historical and comparative approaches’ has been branded it ‘propogandist’ and ‘fanatical’ by critics.

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