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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	(1953-09-27) 27 September 1953 (age 71) Paddington, London, England
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Richard Thompson (m. 1991-1993, 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. In 2010, Abbott became Shadow Public Health Minister after unsuccessfully standing for election as leader of the Labour Party, coming last of the five candidates with 7.42% of the vote.

Biography

Early life and career

Abbott was born to Jamaican immigrants in London in 1953. Her father was a welder and her mother a nurse. She attended Harrow County Grammar School for Girls, and then Newnham College, Cambridge, where she read history. At Cambridge, she was tutored by historian Simon Schama. 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). 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.

Political career

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. She has been seen as a 'maverick, a free-thinker, willing to rebel against the party machine.'

Abbott's speech on civil liberties, in the debate on the Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008 won The Spectator magazine's 'Parliamentary Speech of the Year' award and further recognition at the 2008 Human Rights awards.

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. She went on to serve on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

Abbott chairs the All Party Parliamentary British-Caribbean Group and the All Party Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Group.

Abbott is founder of the London Schools and the Black Child initiative, which aims to raise educational achievement levels amongst black children.

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.

2010 Labour Party leadership election

On 20 May 2010 Abbott announced her intention to stand in the Labour leadership contest. She secured the necessary 33 nominations by 9 June, assisted by the withdrawal of fellow left wing candidate John McDonnell and unexpected support from fellow candidate David Miliband. 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.

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. 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.'

Media work

Abbott has built up a high profile within the media.

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.

Abbott is a frequent public speaker, newspaper contributor and TV performer, appearing on programmes such as Have I Got News For You, Celebrity Come Dine with Me and Cash in the Celebrity Attic.

Controversies

The education of Abbott's son

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. 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. Abbott was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying "West Indian mums will go to the wall for their children".

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 Abbott's Hackney constituency.

Failure to declare earnings

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.

Racial generalisations

In 1996, she commented that at her local hospital "blonde, blue-eyed Finnish girls" were unsuitable as nurses because they had "never met a black person before". The secretary of the all-party Finland group of MPs, Conservative Ian Bruce responded by accusing her of "using racial stereotypes", adding: "All Scandinavian countries have people from African and Caribbean countries living there. It shows ignorance to make such remarks." She referred to David Cameron and Nick Clegg as "two posh white boys" in May 2010.

In 1988, at a Black Studies conference in the United States of America, she gave a speech, in which she said, "the British invented racism."

On 4 January 2012, Abbott tweeted that "White people love playing 'divide and rule' We should not play their game #tacticasoldascolonialism" which led to accusations of racism. After being informed by the Labour Party leadership that the comment was unacceptable she apologised for "any offence caused by" the comment and stated that she had not intended to make generalisations about white people.

Personal life

Abbott married Richard Thompson, an architect, in 1991; they divorced in 1993; they had one son together. Abbott chose her Conservative MP voting pair, Jonathan Aitken, as her son's godfather.

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. Abbott subsequently performed Chopin's Prelude No. 4 in E minor to a public audience, and has continued to play the piano since.

References

1. "Desert Island Discs featuring Diane Abbott". Desert Island Discs. 18 May 2008. BBC. Radio 4. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
2. ^ Kite, Melissa (26 September 2010). "Labour: Voting system conjures up a gripping finish". The Daily Telegraph. London.
3. "Diane Abbott enters Labour leadership contest". BBC News. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
4. "Frequently Asked Questions". www2.labour.org.uk. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
5. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/a/appiah-africana.html
6. "UK | Magazine | Faces of the week". BBC News. 7 November 2003. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
7. "Simon Schama on the American right". BBC News. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
8. ^ "Vote 2001: Candidates: Diane Abbott". BBC News. BBC. 2001. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
9. Riddell, Mary (16 June 2010). "Diane Abbott: 'It's very lonely being a single mother'". The Daily Telegraph. London.
10. ^ "Profile: Diane Abbott". BBC News. 9 June 2010.
11. Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster (11 June 2008). "Hansard 11 June 2008 col 379". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
12. "Parliamentarian of the Year Awards Recipients 2008". The Spectator. 20 November 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
13. "The Law Society". The Law Society. 9 December 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
14. ^ "Diane Abbott: Labour parliamentary candidate for Hackney North". Hackney Citizen. 25 April 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
15. "London Schools and the Black Child (LSBC)". Blackeducation.info. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
16. "Diane Abbott wins Hackney North and Stoke Newington with massive majority". Myhackney.co.uk. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
17. "Diane Abbott goes through to next Labour leader round". BBC News. BC. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
18. Chapman, James (10 June 2010). "David Miliband accused of helping Diane Abbott into Labour leadership race to damage his brother's chances". Daily Mail. London.
19. Stratton, Allegra (9 June 2010). "David Miliband keeps Diane Abbott in Labour leadership race". The Guardian. London.
20. "Diane Abbott appointed Shadow Junior Minister for Public Health" Hackney Gazette 11 October 2010 Retrieved 14 October 2010
21. "The Top 100 Most Influential People on the Left 2011: 25-51". The Daily Telegraph. London. 27 September 2011.
22. "Have I Got News For You with Jimmy Savile and Diane Abbott". Have I Got News For You. 28 May 1999. BBC. BBC 2. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
23. "About Diane". Dianeabbott.org.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
24. Abbott, Diane. "Diane Abbott - Comment is free". The Guardian. London. {{cite news}}: line feed character in |title= at position 13 (help)
25. "Diary: Diane's appetite for losing". The Independent. London. 12 January 2011.
26. "Two Programmes - Cash in the Celebrity Attic, Series 6, Diane Abbott". BBC. 13 January 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
27. Barrow, Becky (3 November 2003). "Abbott 'told ex-husband to be quiet over school'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
28. "Abbott speaks out on school row". BBC News. 31 October 2003. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
29. Michael Rosen (2003). "Education: Dear Diane Abbott..." Socialist Review. Retrieved 1 November 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
30. Diane Abbott (2004). "Education: Dear Michael Rosen..." Socialist Review. Retrieved 1 November 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
31. Walters, Simon (27 June 2010). "Diane Abbott fumes after being branded a racist on TV by This Week host Andrew Neill". Daily Mail. London.
32. "Diane Abbott plays race card to excuse her decision to send her son to private school". Daily Mail. London. 22 June 2010.
33. "Abbot admits decision 'indefensible'". Thisislondon.co.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
34. "Abbott's son defends going private". BBC News. 28 October 2003.
35. Lightfoot, Liz (29 October 2003). "Public school son of Labour MP denies 'hypocrisy'". Telegraph. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
36. "House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges - Conduct of Ms Diane Abbott Second Report of Session 2003–04" (PDF). Retrieved 20 May 2010.
37. Lucy Ward "The Guardian Profile: Diane Abbott", The Guardian, 16 March 1999
38. "MP Diane in `race' rant at white nurses", The Mirror, 28 November 1996, p.6, as reproduced on the Free Library website
39. Paul Revoir "Diane Abbott in race row after calling Cameron and Clegg 'two posh white boys'", Daily Mail, 23 May 2010
40. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2082527/Diane-Abbott-Twitter-race-row-MP-faces-calls-resign-racist-tweet.html
41. Ridge, Sophy. "MP Apologises After Tweet Sparks Race Row". Sky News. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
42. "MP Diane Abbott 'sorry' over Twitter race comments". BBC. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
43. Riddell, Mary (16 June 2010). "Diane Abbott: 'It's very lonely being a single mother'". The Daily Telegraph.
44. ^ "Play It Again". BBC. Retrieved 5 January 2012.

External links

• Diane Abbott MP official constituency website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Diane Abbott: You Ask The Questions The Independent, Feb 2010
• Diane Abbott New Statesman profile
• Diane Abbott at IMDb
• Interview with The Third Estate

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