The expected appointment of Antonia Romeo as the first female cabinet secretary has been labelled 'controversial' by some conservative commentators, who have dubbed her the 'queen of woke'. However, a new analysis argues that the term 'woke' has become so overused as to lose all meaning.
Romeo has held senior civil service roles under every prime minister since David Cameron, including Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak. The commentator notes that Cameron and May were themselves considered 'woke' by some, while Johnson and Sunak were avowedly anti-woke. This suggests that Romeo's career progression cannot logically be attributed to a consistent ideological stance.
The term 'woke' originated in the 1930s among African American civil rights activists, meaning awareness of racial prejudice. By the 2010s it had expanded to encompass other forms of discrimination. But the commentator argues that the word now signifies little more than a vague opposition to anything associated with progressive causes, from working from home to respecting pronouns.
Examples cited include Jacob Rees-Mogg's criticism of civil service home working and Nigel Farage's lumping together of council employees who work remotely with those working on diversity, equity and inclusion or climate issues. The commentator suggests that such labelling relies on an unexamined 'common sense' rather than logical argument.
The piece concludes that the word 'woke' has become so broad that it can apply to almost anyone or anything, from the National Trust to the law courts, and even to disabled people seeking their own rights. This strategic overuse, particularly by Generation Z, is seen as a way to neutralise the term entirely.
