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Thangam Debbonaire

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Thangam Debbonaire
MP
Member of Parliament
for Bristol West
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byStephen Williams
Majority5,673 (8.8%)
Personal details
Born (1966-08-03) 3 August 1966 (age 57)
Political partyLabour
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
University of Bristol
WebsiteOfficial website

Thangam Rachel Debbonaire (born 3 August 1966)[1] is a British Labour Party politician. Debbonaire was a professional cellist and has also worked as National Research Manager for Respect. She became Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol West at the 2015 General Election, when she defeated the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams.[2] Shortly after winning Bristol West, Debbonaire was diagnosed with breast cancer,[3] and did not attend a Parliamentary vote from June 2015 until March 2016.[4]

In January 2016 she started to plan a phased return to Westminster from February,[5] and was appointed as shadow minister for Culture, Media and Sport[6] until resigning on 27 June 2016 (among many others) because of her lack of confidence in the Labour Party Leader, Jeremy Corbyn.[7]

Early life and education

Born in 1966 to a Tamil father and an English mother, Debbonaire was educated at Bradford Girls' Grammar School and Chetham's School of Music, then took the first stage of a Mathematics degree at the University of Oxford, and at the same time trained as a cellist at the Royal College of Music. Subsequently she gained an MSc in Management, Development and Social Responsibility at the University of Bristol.[1][8]

Early career

Before becoming an MP, she performed professionally as a classical cellist, including for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.[1][8] She has worked as National Children's Officer for the Women's Aid Federation of England (1991–1998), for which she moved to St Werburghs in Bristol,[8][9] and later as National Research Manager for Respect, an anti-domestic violence organisation (2006–2008).[1][10]

She has co-authored two books, and a number of papers, about domestic violence.[1][11] She was a trustee of the University of Bristol Students' Union.[8]

Political career

She was elected as the MP for Bristol West in May 2015, and was diagnosed with breast cancer just weeks afterwards. Debbonaire said she never doubted that she would return to Parliament and credited listening to classical music with helping her recovery.[12] She subsequently called on Parliament to allow for MPs to vote remotely after she was unable to participate in votes during her recovery[13]

During her treatment period she was appointed as Shadow Culture Minister by Jeremy Corbyn. According to Debbonaire, she found out about the role when a journalist contacted her in hospital in response to a Labour press release announcing that she was taking it on, and was then briefly removed from the position before she got a chance to meet with Corbyn.[14][15] She resigned from the position on 27 June 2016 following a series of other resignations, saying that she did not believe Corbyn was the right person to lead the Labour Party into the next election[16]

Twitter

In August 2016, a student at Bristol University was investigated after telling Debbonaire to "get in the sea", an Internet meme. She interpreted it as a death threat and complained to the university, the student apologised and deleted the tweet.[17]

Selected bibliography

Books

  • Debbonaire, Thangam; Mullender, Audrey (2000). Child protection and domestic violence. Birmingham: Venture Press. ISBN 9781861780423.

Chapters in books

  • Debbonaire, Thangam (1994), "Children in refuges", in Mullender, Audrey; Morley, Rebecca (eds.), Children living with domestic violence: putting men's abuse of women on the child care agenda, London Concord, Massachusetts: Whiting & Birch., ISBN 9781871177725. {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Journal articles

Papers

  • Debbonaire, Thangam; Debbonaire, Emilie; Walton, Kevin (2004). Evaluation of work with domestic abusers in Ireland. Dublin: Department of Justice, Equality, and Law Reform. OCLC 65202770.
  • Debbonaire, Thangam (2008). Respect position statement (with research review) on gender and domestic violence. London: Respect.
  • Debbonaire, Thangam (2015). Responding to diverse ethnic communities in domestic violence perpetrator programmes. London: Respect. Pdf.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Thangam Debbonaire (2015). "CURRICULUM VITAE – Thangam Rachel Debbonaire". Democracy Club. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Elections 2015 – Bristol West Parliamentary constituency". BBC. 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  3. ^ "Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire diagnosed with breast cancer". Bristol Post. 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  4. ^ "Voting Record – Thangam Debbonaire MP, Bristol West (25402)". 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  5. ^ "Thangam Debbonaire MP poised for return after cancer treatment". BBC. 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  7. ^ "My resignation from the shadow front bench". Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  8. ^ a b c d "Election 2015 profile: The candidates in Bristol West". Bristol Post. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  9. ^ Claire Dumbill (7 May 2015). "Thangam Debbonaire on running for Parliament". 50for15. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  10. ^ "Election results Bristol West: Thangam Debbonaire wins seat for Labour". Western Daily Press. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  11. ^ "Thangam Debbonaire". Amazon. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  12. ^ "Shadow minister Thangam Debbonaire 'drew strength from music in breast cancer battle'". Telegraph. March 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  13. ^ "Thangam Debbonaire MP returns after breast cancer treatment". BBC. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  14. ^ Boffey, Daniel (17 July 2016). "Labour is miles away from government, says man out to replace Corbyn". Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  15. ^ Fenton, Siobhan (17 July 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn 'appointed and sacked shadow minister without telling her, while she was undergoing cancer treatment". Independent. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  16. ^ "Thangam Debbonaire latest Bristol Labour MP to resign from shadow front bench". ITV. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  17. ^ http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/student-investigated-over-threat-to-kill-after-telling-bristol-labour-mp-to-get-in-the-sea/story-29612831-detail/story.html
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Bristol West
2015–present 		Incumbent


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