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Revision as of 10:55, 4 July 2005
Diane Julie Abbott (born September 27, 1953 in Paddington, London) is a British Labour MP in the constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington. She was the first female black MP when she was elected in the 1987 General Election.
Born to Jamaican immigrants, Abbott went to Harrow City Girls' School and then Newnham College, Cambridge where she read history. After leaving university, she became a researcher for Thames Television. Between 1976 and 1980 she was a civil servant, and then between 1982 and 1987 a journalist. In the late 1980s she became the press officer of the Greater London Council (then led by Ken Livingstone), before becoming an MP in 1987.
Diane Abbott was married to David Thompson in 1991 until a divorce in 1993; she had one son, James, by that marriage. Notably, she chose as her son's godfather Jonathan Aitken, an MP from a rather different part of the political spectrum.
She attracted accusations of hypocrisy and criticism from all political parties in late October 2003, after revealing her decision to send her son to the City of London School, one of the top public schools in the country, after having criticised Solicitor General Harriet Harman for sending her son to St. Olave's, a selective, although state, school in Orpington, Kent, and Tony Blair for sending his sons to a similar school, the Brompton Oratory (which is also officially a state school, though partially funded by the Catholic Church and selective). However, Abbott herself said that she had done so only reluctantly, and because she feared that her son could get into trouble in a state school as a black male.
She has also pursued a media career, acting as a pundit (often with Tory Michael Portillo) on the BBC.
External links
- Diane Abbott official site
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Diane Abbott MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Diane Abbott MP
- The Public Whip - Diane Abbott MP voting record