| Diane Abbott MP | |
|---|---|
| Shadow Minister for Public Health | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 9 October 2010 |
|
| Leader | Ed Miliband |
| Preceded by | Gillian Merron |
| Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 11 June 1987 |
|
| Preceded by | Ernest Roberts |
| Majority | 14,408 (31.0%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 September 1953 Paddington, London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse(s) | Richard Thompson (divorced) |
| Children | Son |
| Alma mater | Newnham College, Cambridge |
| Website | www.dianeabbott.org.uk |
Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, when she became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons.[1] In 2010, Abbott became Shadow Public Health Minister after unsuccessfully standing for election as leader of the Labour Party,[2] ultimately losing to Ed Miliband.[3][4]
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Abbott was born to Jamaican immigrants in London in 1953. Her father was a welder and her mother a nurse.[5] She attended Harrow County Grammar School for Girls, and then Newnham College, Cambridge, where she read history.[6] At Cambridge, she was tutored by historian Simon Schama.[7] After university she became an administration trainee at the Home Office (1976 to 1978), and then a Race Relations Officer at the National Council for Civil Liberties (1978 to 1980).[8] Abbott was a researcher and reporter at Thames Television from 1980 to 1983 and then a researcher and reporter at the breakfast television company TV-am from 1983 to 1985. Abbott was a press officer at the Greater London Council under Ken Livingstone from 1985 to 1986 and Head of Press and Public Relations at Lambeth Council from 1986 to 1987.[8]
Abbott's career in politics began in 1982 when she was elected to Westminster City Council serving until 1986. In 1987 she was elected to the House of Commons, replacing the deselected serving Labour MP Ernest Roberts as MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington.
Abbott has a record of differing from some party policies, voting against the Iraq war, opposing ID cards and campaigning against the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear weapons.[9] She has been seen as a 'maverick, a free-thinker, willing to rebel against the party machine.'[10]
Abbott's speech on civil liberties, in the debate on the Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008[11] won The Spectator magazine's 'Parliamentary Speech of the Year' award[12] and further recognition at the 2008 Human Rights awards.[13]
Abbott has served on a number of parliamentary committees on social and international issues. For most of the 1990s she also served on the Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons.[14] She went on to serve on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.[14]
Abbott chairs the All Party Parliamentary British-Caribbean Group and the All Party Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Group.[14]
Abbott is founder of the London Schools and the Black Child initiative, which aims to raise educational achievement levels amongst Black children.[15]
In May 2010, she was re-elected in her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, with a doubled majority on an increased turn-out.[16]
Diane Abbott announced on Radio 4's Today programme on 20 May 2010 her intention to stand in the Labour leadership contest. On 9 June 2010, Abbott secured the 33 nominations necessary to appear on the Labour leadership ballot paper following the withdrawal of fellow left wing candidate John McDonnell and surprise support from fellow candidate David Miliband.[17][18][19] On Saturday 25 September 2010, Ed Miliband was announced as the new leader of the Labour Party with Abbott eliminated in the first round of voting after securing 7.24% of votes.[2]
Abbott was later appointed Shadow Minister for Public Health by Ed Miliband, taking shadow responsibility for a range of issues including children's health, maternity services, sexual health, tobacco, nursing, obesity and alcohol abuse.[20] The move onto the frontbench has seen a noted transition in Diane Abbott's career, with the Telegraph writing on 27th September 2011 that Abbott had 'become one of Labour’s best front bench performers.'[21]
Abbott has built up a high profile within the media.[10]
Until her appointment as a shadow minister in October 2010, Abbott appeared alongside the former Conservative politician and media personality Michael Portillo on the BBC's weekly politics digest This Week. Abbott and Portillo have known each other since school, when they appeared in joint school productions of Romeo and Juliet (although not in the title roles), and of Macbeth as Lady Macduff and Macduff respectively.[22]
Abbott is a frequent public speaker,[23] newspaper contributor[24] and TV performer, appearing on programmes such as Have I Got News For You, Celebrity Come Dine With Me [25] and Cash in the Celebrity Attic.[26]
Abbott's decision in 2003 to send her son to the private City of London School, which she herself described as "indefensible" and "intellectually incoherent", caused controversy and criticism.[27][28][29][30] This issue was discussed in the media during Abbott's 2010 bid to become leader of the Labour Party and Andrew Neil questioned her on the issue on This Week.[31]
Her son became involved, contacting a radio phone-in to say that his mother was only following his own wishes: "She's not a hypocrite, she just put what I wanted first instead of what people thought," he told LBC. He added that he had wanted to go private rather than attend a local state school in Ms Abbott's Hackney constituency. [32][33][34]
In 2004, following a complaint made by Andrew Rosindell MP, Abbott was investigated by the Committee on Standards and Privileges regarding payment she had received from the BBC. They found she had failed to declare earnings of £17,300 on the Register of Members' Interests which had been received for appearances on the television programme This Week. The Committee upheld the complaint and required Abbott to apologise to the House.[35]
On 4th January 2012 Ms Abbott tweeted, "White people love playing 'divide and rule' we should not play there game #tacticsasoldascolonianism" which has lead some to accuse her of racism. Ms Abbott has since removed the comment from Twitter and has begun blocking anyone who makes reference to it.
Abbott married Richard Thompson, an architect, in 1991; they divorced in 1993; they had one son together.[36] Abbott chose her Conservative MP voting pair, Jonathan Aitken, as her son's godfather.[37]
In 2007, Abbott began learning the piano from scratch under the tutelage of Paul Roberts, Professor of Piano at London’s Guildhall of Music and Drama, for the TV programme, Play It Again.[38] Abbott subsequently performed Chopin's Prelude No. 4 in E minor to a public audience, and has continued to play the piano since.[38]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by Ernest Roberts |
Hackney North and Stoke Newington 1987–present |
Incumbent |
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