Chuka Umunna

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Chuka Umunna MP
Shadow Secretary of State for
Business, Innovation and Skills
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 October 2011
Leader Ed Miliband
Preceded by John Denham
Member of Parliament
for Streatham
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Keith Hill
Majority 3,259 (7.0%)
Personal details
Born 17 October 1978 (1978-10-17) (age 33)
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Alma mater University of Manchester
University of Burgundy
Nottingham Law School
Occupation MP
Profession Lawyer
Religion Anglican
Website Official website

Chuka Harrison Umunna (born 17 October 1978) is a British Labour Party politician and employment lawyer who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham since 2010. After less than 18 months in Parliament, he was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Business Secretary by Labour Leader Ed Miliband on 7 October 2011. Umunna has described himself as being "One Nation Labour" and has written articles promoting the Blue Labour trend.[1][2][3]

Contents

[edit] Background and early life

Umunna has a Nigerian father from Awka, and an Irish mother.[4] He is the grandson of High Court Judge Sir Helenus Milmo QC, as well as the nephew of libel lawyer Patrick Milmo QC.[5] Umunna was educated at Hitherfield Primary School in Streatham, South London, at the voluntary aided Christ Church Primary School in Brixton Hill, and at the independent secondary school St. Dunstan's College in Catford.[6] He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English and French Law from the University of Manchester and then studied for a semester at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, before going on to study at Nottingham Law School.[7]

[edit] Legal career

Having completed his studies in 2002, Umunna started his legal career as a solicitor at the international law firm Herbert Smith in the City of London, where Umunna mostly acted for large companies. In 2006, he moved to the Central London law firm Rochman Landau to specialise as an employment lawyer, where he mainly acted for individuals and small companies.[8][9]

From 2006 onwards, Umunna began to write and provide commentary on the Labour Party, with a particular emphasis on economic and social issues. Umunna would usually do this in his capacity as a Member of the Management Committee of Compass, a centre-left pressure group and think tank. He wrote for the Financial Times, Tribune, The Voice, The Guardian and the New Statesman, and he began to appear on television and radio with increasing regularity, including on The Daily Politics and Question Time.[10][11] He founded and is the former editor of the online political magazine, TMP, which is primarily aimed at Labour-supporting ethnic-minority Britons. Contributors to the site include Lady Prosser, and MPs David Lammy, Keith Vaz and Jon Cruddas. In 2007, Umunna worked as a campaign aide to Cruddas during his ultimately unsuccessful campaign to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

Umunna was formerly a trustee of the Anthony Bourne Foundation and the 409 Project. He is still a member of the Board of the Generation Next Foundation, a youth charity, alongside Martin Offiah, Leo Ihenacho and Rikki Beadle-Blair.[12] In August 2007, Umunna was quoted in the wake of the numerous killings of teenagers in Britain linked to gangs and violence in urban Britain. His comments that the problems of young people living in the inner cities are linked to the wealth divide and increasing consumerism were widely reported.[13][13][14] He challenged former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie for making remarks about then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown on an episode of Question Time in October 2007.[15]

In November 2007, Umunna was identified as one of ten young, gifted and black people in British politics in The Independent on Sunday by Simon Woolley, the Director of Operation Black Vote. Woolley said Umunna "may end up as the UK's Barack Obama".[16] In a February 2008 edition of the New Statesman, he was referred to in an article entitled "Is there a British Obama?".[17] He was also described in the New Statesman as "a Barack Obama for Britain".[18] The comparison with Obama was one that Umunna later came to disparage.[19] He was also one of the individuals selected for The Observer's January 2009 Hotlist, which highlighted people set to make a mark over the coming year.[20] In May 2009, he was chosen to be on a panel of ten figures from across the political spectrum addressing the question How do we restore the reputation of Parliament? by The Independent following the 2009 expenses scandal.[21]

[edit] Political career

[edit] Member of Parliament

In March 2008, Umunna was chosen by local Labour Party members to be the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for the Streatham constituency in South London, to replace the incumbent Labour MP Keith Hill, who had announced his retirement. At the 2010 general election, Umunna was elected as the Member of Parliament for Streatham with a 3,259 majority. Umunna delivered his maiden speech on 2 June 2010, highlighting the need for new school building projects in his constituency, and calling for better financial regulation of the banking sector.[22] Umunna took a particular interest in economic policy and reform of the City very early after entering Parliament, and was subsequently elected by his colleagues to serve on the Treasury Select Committee.[23] In July 2010, Umunna had a heated exchange with Chancellor George Osborne over the Chancellor's first Budget and its impact on the poorest in society at a Committee hearing.[24] This was followed by a similar exchange with Chief Secretary Danny Alexander.[25] Umunna has argued that the coalition government should revise its programme of fiscal consolidation, take a tougher stance with the British banking industry and take action to transform the credit ratings agency market.[26][27][28] Umunna was one of 73 Labour MPs to nominate Ed Miliband, the successful candidate, in the 2010 Labour leadership election to find a successor to Gordon Brown.[29] Following Miliband's election, Umunna was appointed to serve as his Parliamentary Private Secretary, along with Anne McGuire, until he was promoted to be Shadow Minister for Small Business and Enterprise under Shadow Business Secretary John Denham. In January 2011, Umunna questioned the Chief Executive of Barclays, Bob Diamond, in relation to alleged tax avoidance activities by the bank during which he disclosed that the bank used over 300 subsidiary companies in offshore jurisdictions.[30] In response to a question from Umunna, Diamond admitted in February 2011 that Barclays had paid £113m in UK corporation tax in 2009, despite making £11.6bn in profit.[31]

[edit] Shadow Cabinet

Umunna was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Business Secretary on 7 October 2011, replacing John Denham who announced his retirement from front-bench politics.[32] Following his appointment, Umunna re-affirmed Labour's commitment to introducing a graduate tax in place of university tuition fees if it wins the next election. In January 2012, Umunna joined Ed Miliband and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Reeves in calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to block a £1.6m bonus for Stephen Hester, the Chief Executive Officer of the publicly-owned Royal Bank of Scotland Group.[33] Umunna rejected the claim by Cameron that the government were unable to act due to their "hands being tied by the last Labour government", and announced with Miliband that Labour would be holding a Commons debate and vote on bonuses paid to other RBS Group executives.[34]

[edit] Personal life

Umunna is currently single, has no children and lives in Streatham, South London. [35]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Labour appoints fresh face to replace John Denham as business shadow from Times Higher Education
  2. ^ http://www.chuka.org.uk/2011/05/one-nation-labour/
  3. ^ http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/05/chuka-umunna-my-vision-for-one-nation-labour/
  4. ^ Chuka Umunna MP » About Chuka
  5. ^ Landon-Down, Grania (06-02-21). "Black lawyers' directory to improve diversity". London: The Times. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article732178.ece. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
  6. ^ Profile of Chuka Umunna from This Is Local London
  7. ^ Profile of Chuka Umunna from Operation Black Vote
  8. ^ Black Lawyers Directory Profile
  9. ^ “Inequality costs £1m per hour”, Personnel Today, 20 September 2007
  10. ^ Umunna, Chuka, “The duty to inspire”, New Statesman, 30 August 2007
  11. ^ Umunna, Chuka, “Ask the expert: Diversity in the City”, Financial Times, 11 September 2006
  12. ^ Generation Next Committee
  13. ^ a b Umunna, Chuka, “In our inner cities, gangs are the new extended families”, The Guardian, 9 August 2007
  14. ^ Womack, Sarah, “Black boys need role models not rappers”, The Telegraph, 14 August 2007
  15. ^ Akbar, Arifa, “Former 'Sun' editor MacKenzie outrages Scots”, The Independent, 27 October 2007
  16. ^ Woolley, Simon, “Young, gifted and black: Politics choices”, The Independent on Sunday, 4 November 2007
  17. ^ Matthews, David, “Is there a British Obama?”, The New Statesman, 7 February 2008
  18. ^ Martin Bright, New Statesman 8 January 2009
  19. ^ “The Guardian”, August 2009
  20. ^ The 2009 Hotlist, The Guardian
  21. ^ Reform now: 10 ways to save our system, The Independent
  22. ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 02 Jun 2010 (pt 0015)
  23. ^ Treasury Committee - membership - UK Parliament
  24. ^ Inman, Phillip (15 July 2010). "George Osborne offers MPs veto on choice of next budget watchdog". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/15/alan-budd-budget-george-osborne. 
  25. ^ Sparrow, Andrew (3 November 2010). "Politics live blog + PMQs". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/nov/03/politics-live-blog-pmqs. 
  26. ^ New Statesman - The man’s not for turning
  27. ^ Credit Rating Agencies: 16 Nov 2010: House of Commons debates - TheyWorkForYou
  28. ^ New Clause 3 — Bank taxation: 8 Nov 2010: House of Commons debates - TheyWorkForYou
  29. ^ "Ed Miliband: Nominations". labour.co.uk. http://www2.labour.org.uk/leadership-candidates/2/Ed_Miliband. Retrieved 24 May 2010. 
  30. ^ O'Hare, Sean (17 January 2011). "Labour MP urges Barclay's chief to reduce offshore subsidaries [sic]". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/offshorefinance/8263845/Labour-MP-urges-Barclays-chief-to-reduce-offshore-subsidaries.html. 
  31. ^ Treannor, Jill (18 February 2011). "Barclays bank forced to admit it paid just £113m in corporation tax in 2009". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/feb/18/barclays-bank-113m-corporation-tax. 
  32. ^ "Ed Miliband promotes fresh faces to Labour top team". BBC News. 7 October 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15212234. 
  33. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/23/miliband-hester-1-6m-rbs-bonus?newsfeed=true
  34. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16779585
  35. ^ http://www.chuka.org.uk/

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Keith Hill		 Member of Parliament for Streatham
2010 – present		 Incumbent
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John Denham		 Shadow Business Secretary
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