New Register Documents State-Backed Role of British Political Parties in Slave Trade

A newly published Register of British Slave Traders documents thousands of investors involved in Britain’s nearly 250-year participation in the trafficking of more than 3 million enslaved African people, according to a report by The Guardian.

The register, described by the newspaper as the most comprehensive record of its kind to date, shows that the transatlantic slave trade was a state-backed operation supported by both major political parties of the era—the Tories and the Whigs, described as the historical forerunners of today’s Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.

According to The Guardian’s reporting, Tory and Whig members of parliament played central roles in funding the trafficking of enslaved people, and many members of both parties opposed the abolition of the slave trade when it was debated in Britain.

The report notes what it characterizes as a broader British cultural tendency to commemorate the abolition of slavery without fully acknowledging the extent to which the country itself enslaved and trafficked millions of African people over centuries.

The Guardian’s article, part of its ongoing coverage of Britain’s historical involvement in slavery, presents the register as evidence that participation in and support for the slave trade extended into the highest levels of political power at the time, cutting across party lines that persisted for generations.

Further details on the scope, methodology, and specific individuals named in the register were outlined in The Guardian’s original reporting.