LONDON, June 10 -- The argument Kemi Badenoch brought to the Institute for Government on Tuesday was that Britain's institutions have been frightened into failure, that the fear of being called racist has cost lives, and that the legal architecture built to prevent discrimination should therefore come down. The policy she attached to it would remove a duty that has bound every school, hospital and police force in the country for sixteen years.

The Conservative leader pledged to scrap the Public Sector Equality Duty in its entirety, calling it a minefield that exposes almost every significant public decision to legal challenge, and arguing that equality law should be a shield, not a sword, ITV News reported. She paired the repeal with a p...