The UK has voted out its first Asian prime minister but it looks very likely that a Black or Asian politician could be the next leader of the Conservative Party – though obviously not prime minister,

As the contours of the coming contest for the leadership become clearer, the earliest indications are that Suella Braverman, the publicity-seizing British Asian former home minister, could be in the running but may have committed the error of moving too far to the right to get the job.

Another frontrunner in the coming leadership battle is Priti Patel, an earlier home secretary who has spent the last few months on the backbenches, quietly building alliances with other Conservative MPs.

Turn the spotlight on the now-ruling Labour Party's cabinet and there are clearly fewer ethnic faces here. The top Asian minister here is 44-year-old Lisa Nundy who has just taken over the culture, media and sports portfolio. This coqàvers, as she pointed out, everything from opera to rugby.

The Conservatives are still debating whether to have an immediate leadership contest or allow former prime minister Rishi Sunak to continue in the job for now till the party gets back on its feet after its most devastating defeat in over 100 years.

Currently, the smart money is mostly being placed on Black politician Kemi Badenoch to land the job that will involve rebuilding the party and figuring out a new direction for it to take in the coming years. One drawback to her candidacy is that she’s said to have a difficult personality. One Westminster joke is that if Badenoch walked into an empty room, she’d get into a fight with herself.

Badenoch could also face tough competition from another Black politician, former home secretary (the equivalent of our home minister) James Cleverly. Before he was moved to the Home Office by Sunak, Cleverly was the UK foreign secretary so he can claim to have experience in two of the country’s Great Offices of State (home, foreign, finance and defence).

There are, of course, non-ethnic candidates for the leader of the opposition job but it’s not certain which of them has sufficient standing in the country to take the party forward after such a heavy defeat.

One such potential contender is Tom Tugendhat, a junior minister for security in the Sunak government, who is widely recognised as an affable and well-meaning politician but possibly without the muscle to lead the party back to victory.

Similarly, Victoria Atkins held the key health portfolio in the Sunak government, but is not well-known around the country. Another former minister, Robert Jenrick, was shadowed by controversy and has not yet built a strong reputation as a high-profile party leader.

Whoever takes over as leader will have to contend with the extreme right-winger Nigel Farage who can be counted on to blast the Conservative Party for its failings and who is brilliant at attracting publicity that will put both leading parties in a poor light.

Asian and Black politicians have been able to make a huge impact in the 2024 House of Commons and there will be 28 of them sitting on the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat benches. This tally includes 12 Sikhs which has the Indian government wary about the potential impact on UK policy.

Both Labour and the Conservatives saw the ethnic vote play an unusual role in this election. Labour, which has taken a strongly pro-Israel stand, lost out in five constituencies that had a large number of Muslim voters to independent candidates including its former leader Jeremy Corbyn. It’s thought also that many Hindu voters backed the Conservatives because of Sunak. Asian voters have traditionally mostly been Labour supporters.