Chuka Umunna

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Person.png Chuka Umunna   Twitter WebsiteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Chuka Umunna.jpg
BornChuka Harrison Umunna
17 October 1978
London, England
Alma materUniversity of Manchester, Nottingham Trent University
ReligionChristianity
SpouseAlice Sullivan
Member ofEuropean Council on Foreign Relations, WEF/Young Global Leaders/2011
PartyLiberal Democrats

Employment.png Member

In office
26 October 2015 - February 2019
EmployerHome Affairs Select Committee

Employment.png Member of Parliament for Streatham

In office
6 May 2010 - 6 November 2019

Chuka Umunna (born 17 October 1978)[1] is a British politician who served as the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham since the UK/2010 General Election. As a former member of the Shadow Cabinet, he was Shadow Business Secretary from 2011 to 2015. He was a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee from 26 October 2015 to February 2019.[2]

Chuka Umunna was a member of the Labour Party until February 2019, when he resigned to form The Independent Group (later renamed Change UK) along with six other MPs. He left Change UK in June 2019 and, after a short time as an Independent MP, joined the Liberal Democrats.[3]

On 21 August 2019, Chuka Umunna tweeted:[4]

"I'm absolutely delighted and honoured to have been appointed by @JoSwinson as the @LibDems new Shadow Foreign Secretary, scrutinising the work of @DominicRaab and the @ForeignOffice."

Paul Mason responded on Twitter:[5]

"Now stand down and call a by-election so that the people of Streatham can endorse your delusional new appointment!"[6]

On 12 December 2019, when Chuka Umunna stood in the UK/2019 General Election as the LibDem candidate in the Cities of London & Westminster constituency, he was defeated by the Conservative candidate Nickie Aiken with a majority of 3,953 votes.[7]

Promoting a federal state

Chuka Ummuna has argued for a British federal state on multiple occasions, and has said that progressives should not dismiss George Osborne's notion of a Northern Powerhouse, arguing that greater devolution, federalisation of Labour into individual Labour Parties representing each component nation of the UK, greater political autonomy for England in particular, more regional powers and "wholescale federalisation" are necessary to advance the Labour Party.[8][9][10][11]

Labour leadership

Following Labour's defeat in the 2015 General Election and the resignation of leader Ed Miliband, Chuka Umunna was identified as one of the potential candidates to take over as Leader of the Labour Party.[12] He called for Labour to target Conservatives and "aspirational, middle-class voters",[13] saying that the party needs to be "on the side of those who are doing well."[14] On 12 May 2015, he announced his candidature for the Labour Party leadership election.[15] Three days later, he withdrew from the contest, stating that he had been "uncomfortable" with "the added level of scrutiny that came with being a leadership candidate".[16] On 26 May 2015, he announced his endorsement of Liz Kendall, who was unsuccessful in her bid for the Labour leadership.[17]

In September 2015, following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party, Umunna announced his resignation from the Shadow Cabinet and returned to the backbenches, citing differences over a Brexit referendum and issues of collective ministerial responsibility.[18]

'American Jeremy Corbyn'

Chuka Umunna was reported to have held a secret meeting in July 2015 with Hillary Clinton’s campaign team to advise her on how to beat Bernie Sanders, her Democratic rival for the presidency dubbed the 'American Jeremy Corbyn'.[19]

Antisemitism

Following publication in October 2016 of the Home Affairs Select Committee report on "Antisemitism in the UK", which was highly critical of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party, the Free Speech on Israel group wrote:

"Labour is the target throughout this ill-conceived and politically tendentious Report. It immediately begins with the suspension of Naz Shah and Ken Livingstone and others for 'antisemitism’. Since no one has been tried or found guilty of ‘antisemitism’ one can only assume that the presumption of innocence has been abandoned by lawyer Chuka Umunna and his Tory friends."[20]

 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:Manufacturing consent on "antisemitism"article20 October 2016Tony GreensteinJeremy Corbyn's Labour party is the target throughout this ill-conceived, politically tendentious and risible Home Affairs Select Committee report entitled "Antisemitism in the UK". The presumption of innocence has been abandoned by lawyer Chuka Umunna and his Tory friends.
Document:The Unprincipled – and Potentially Racist – Lib Demsblog post13 September 2019Craig MurrayIf LibDem candidate Clareine Enderby is indeed replaced by Luciana Berger she will be a victim of racism, as the sole grounds on which Ms Berger is being touted as preferable for the 20% Jewish Finchley and Golders Green constituency is her ethnicity.
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References

  1. ↑ "Chuka Umunna". politics.co.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2018.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  2. ↑ "Chuka Umunna tipped to replace Keith Vaz as chairman of home affairs select committee"
  3. ↑ "Change UK splits as six of 11 MPs become independents"
  4. ↑ "Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs"
  5. ↑ "Paul Mason replying to @ChukaUmunna"
  6. ↑ "Chuka Umunna’s new role sums up Lib Dem principles perfectly"
  7. ↑ "Election results Cities of London & Westminster"
  8. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  9. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
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  12. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  13. ↑ "Chuka Umunna calls for Labour to target Conservative and "aspirational, middle-class voters"". Newstatesman.com. 9 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  14. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  15. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  16. ↑ "Chuka Umunna withdraws Labour leader bid". BBC. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  17. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  18. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  19. ↑ "Labour's Chuka held secret talks with Hillary Clinton's campaign team to advise on how to defeat 'US Corbyn'"
  20. ↑ "Manufacturing consent on ‘antisemitism’"
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