Lenny Henry- ww2 ring bells? TRAITOR?

 Lenny Henry’s Betrayal of Britain

By Liz Lucy Robillard

The Man Who Once United Us

Sir Lenny Henry was once the face of Britain’s better self — talent over privilege, laughter over division. A boy from Dudley who broke barriers through wit, timing, and graft. He represented the proof that this country, for all its flaws, still rewarded merit. Millions saw themselves in his rise: the Britain where race mattered less than effort.

Now, after a lifetime of success, he is calling for reparations from the nation that gave him everything. That is not courage; it is betrayal disguised as conscience.

Britain’s Record Deserves Respect

Britain did not invent slavery, but it did lead the world in abolishing it. Parliament outlawed the trade in 1807, and the Empire abolished slavery itself in 1833. British ships hunted slavers for decades at enormous cost. Tens of thousands of sailors fought and died intercepting slave vessels. Our ancestors paid in blood and treasure to end a global evil.

No nation has a perfect record, yet few have corrected their course as forcefully as we did. Britain’s story since abolition is one of reform, not oppression — of integration, not exclusion.

Integration, Not Injustice

Across the 20th century, Britain welcomed families from the Commonwealth. It opened schools, built the NHS, and offered citizenship and opportunity to millions. Generations of immigrants and their children became part of the shared national story — proud to call themselves British while bringing their own heritage with them.

That story includes Lenny Henry. This country gave him a stage, an audience, wealth, honours, and the security to speak freely. He is not a victim of Britain; he is one of its success stories.

Why Turn on Your Own?

To call for reparations now — two centuries after abolition — is to reopen wounds that most Britons have spent decades healing. It tells young people to inherit guilt instead of pride. It risks turning unity into resentment.

The claim that modern Britain owes a financial debt to its own citizens for crimes abolished generations ago is morally hollow. The past should be studied, not invoiced. A society that continually apologises for its ancestors eventually forgets how to stand tall.

The Cost of Fashionable Outrage

What drives this? Partly fashion. In a culture that rewards grievance, outrage is the new currency. Accusing your own country of moral debt makes headlines; praising it for progress does not.

Henry could have used his platform to remind us of how far we have come — of shared decency, humour, and fairness that still bind this island together. Instead, he has chosen to join the professional mourners of empire, people who mistake moral noise for moral action.

We Are Better Than This

Britain abolished slavery, defeated fascism, rebuilt Europe, and continues to send aid across the world. We have integrated cultures without erasing them. That is not the record of a hateful nation.

Lenny Henry owes his platform to that Britain — the one that opened its arms, not clenched its fists. To turn on that legacy is not justice; it is ingratitude. He has chosen the easy applause of division over the harder work of gratitude.

History will remember who built bridges and who burned them