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===Online activity=== ===Online activity===
In April 2013, '']'' alleged that in 2007 Umunna, under the name ''Socialdemocrat'' created and repeatedly edited his own ] page. The newspaper highlighted edits such as those describing Umunna as the British ].<ref>{{cite web|last=Heighton |first=Luke |url=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4877069/Chukas-Wikid-act.html |title=Chuka’s Wiki’d act |publisher=The Sun |date=6 April 2013 |accessdate=2013-04-07}}</ref> Umunna told the '']'' that he did not alter his own Misplaced Pages page, but the paper quoted what they called "sources close to Umunna" as having told the newspaper that "it was possible that one of his campaign team in 2007, when he was trying to be selected to be Labour's candidate for Streatham in the 2010 general election, set up the page."<ref>{{cite web|last=Hope |first=Christopher |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/9977305/Labour-star-Chuka-Umunna-admits-his-aides-probably-set-up-and-edited-his-own-Misplaced Pages-page.html |title=Labour star Chuka Umunna admits his aides probably set up and edited his own Misplaced Pages page |publisher=] |date=7 April 2013 |accessdate=2013-04-08}}</ref> In April 2013, '']'' alleged that in 2007 Umunna, under the name ''Socialdemocrat'' created and repeatedly edited his own ] page. The newspaper highlighted edits such as those describing Umunna as the British ].<ref>{{cite web|last=Heighton |first=Luke |url=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4877069/Chukas-Wikid-act.html |title=Chuka’s Wiki’d act |publisher=The Sun |date=6 April 2013 |accessdate=2013-04-07}}</ref> Umunna told the '']'' that he did not alter his own Misplaced Pages page, but the paper quoted what they called "sources close to Umunna" as having told the newspaper that "it was possible that one of his campaign team in 2007, when he was trying to be selected to be Labour's candidate for Streatham in the 2010 general election, set up the page."<ref>{{cite web|last=Hope |first=Christopher |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/9977305/Labour-star-Chuka-Umunna-admits-his-aides-probably-set-up-and-edited-his-own-Misplaced Pages-page.html |title=Labour star Chuka Umunna admits his aides probably set up and edited his own Misplaced Pages page |publisher=] |date=7 April 2013 |accessdate=2013-04-08}}</ref>

In 2013, it was revealed that whilst working as a solicitor in 2006, and before entering Parliament, he had signed up to the exclusive social networking website ] under a pseudonym. He posted questions, asking for recommendations for "a trash-free, decent night" and complaining that "Most of the West End haunts seem to be full of trash and C-list wannabes." These statements led to ] publishing an article in which he was accused of being "a champagne socialist" with "more faces than Armani suits."<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/9973697/Labours-Chuka-Umunna-under-fire-for-labelling-people-trash-on-elite-social-network.html</ref> A spokesman for Umunna apologised "if any offence may have been caused."


==References== ==References==

Revision as of 11:12, 9 April 2013

Chuka UmunnaMP
Shadow Secretary of State for
Business, Innovation and Skills
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 October 2011
LeaderEd Miliband
Preceded byJohn Denham
Member of Parliament
for Streatham
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byKeith Hill
Majority3,259 (7.0%)
Personal details
Born (1978-10-17) 17 October 1978 (age 46)
London, United Kingdom
Political partyLabour
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
University of Burgundy
Nottingham Law School
OccupationMP
Professionsolicitor
WebsiteOfficial website

Chuka Harrison Umunna (born 17 October 1978) has been the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham since 2010. On 7 October 2011 he was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Business Secretary by the Labour leader Ed Miliband. Umunna has described himself as being "One Nation Labour" and has written articles promoting the Blue Labour trend.

Early life

Born in 1978, Umunna is the son of a Nigerian father originally from Awka. He is of the Igbo ethnic group. His father, Bennett died in a road accident in Nigeria in 1992. Umunna was educated at Hitherfield Primary School in Streatham, South London, at the voluntary aided Christ Church Primary School in Brixton Hill, and at the independent secondary school St Dunstan's College in Catford. He graduated LLB in English and French Law at the University of Manchester and then studied for one term at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, before going on to study at Nottingham Law School for a Master of Arts degree.

Legal career

Having completed his studies in 2002, Umunna started his career as a solicitor at Herbert Smith in the City of London. In 2006 he left Herbert Smith and started employment at Rochman Landau working in employment law.

From 2006 onwards, Umunna began to write and provide commentary on the Labour Party, on economic and social issues, usually as a Member of the Management Committee of Compass. He wrote for the Financial Times, Tribune, The Voice, The Guardian and the New Statesman, and appeared on television and radio, including on The Daily Politics and Question Time. He founded and is the former editor of the online political magazine, TMP, which is primarily aimed at Labour-supporting ethnic-minority Britons. Contributors to the site include Lady Prosser, and MPs David Lammy, Keith Vaz and Jon Cruddas. Umunna worked without success as a campaign aide to Cruddas during his campaign to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

Umunna is a former trustee of the Anthony Bourne Foundation and the 409 Project. He is still a member of the Board of the Generation Next Foundation, a youth charity. In August 2007, Umunna was quoted in the wake of the numerous killings of teenagers in Britain linked to gangs and violence in urban Britain. His comments that the problems of young people living in the inner cities are linked to the wealth divide and increasing consumerism were widely reported. He challenged former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie for making remarks about then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown on an episode of Question Time in October 2007.

Political career

Member of Parliament

In March 2008, Umunna was chosen by local Labour Party members to be the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for the Streatham constituency in South London, to replace the incumbent Labour MP Keith Hill, who had announced his retirement. At the 2010 general election, Umunna was elected as the Member of Parliament for Streatham with a 3,259 majority. Umunna delivered his maiden speech on 2 June 2010, highlighting the need for new school building projects in his constituency, and calling for better financial regulation of the banking sector. Umunna took a particular interest in economic policy and reform of the City very early after entering Parliament, and was subsequently elected by his colleagues to serve on the Treasury Select Committee. In July 2010, Umunna had a heated exchange with Chancellor George Osborne over the Chancellor's first Budget and its impact on the poorest in society at a Committee hearing. This was followed by a similar exchange with Chief Secretary Danny Alexander. Umunna has argued that the coalition government should revise its programme of fiscal consolidation, take a tougher stance with the British banking industry and take action to transform the credit ratings agency market. Umunna was one of 73 Labour MPs to nominate Ed Miliband, the successful candidate, in the 2010 Labour leadership election to find a successor to Gordon Brown. Following Miliband's election, Umunna was appointed to serve as his Parliamentary Private Secretary, along with Anne McGuire, until he was promoted to be Shadow Minister for Small Business and Enterprise under Shadow Business Secretary John Denham. In January 2011, Umunna questioned the Chief Executive of Barclays, Bob Diamond, in relation to alleged tax avoidance activities by the bank during which he disclosed that the bank used over 300 subsidiary companies in offshore jurisdictions. In response to a question from Umunna, Diamond admitted in February 2011 that Barclays had paid £113m in UK corporation tax in 2009, despite making £11.6bn in profit.

Shadow Cabinet

Umunna was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Business Secretary on 7 October 2011, replacing John Denham, who announced his retirement from front-bench politics. Following his appointment, Umunna re-affirmed Labour's commitment to introducing a graduate tax in place of university tuition fees if it wins the next election. In January 2012, Umunna joined Ed Miliband and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Reeves in calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to block a £1.6m bonus for Stephen Hester, the Chief Executive Officer of the publicly owned Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Umunna rejected the claim by Cameron that the government were unable to act due to their "hands being tied by the last Labour government", and announced with Miliband that Labour would be holding a Commons debate and vote on bonuses paid to other RBS Group executives.

Online activity

In April 2013, The Sun alleged that in 2007 Umunna, under the name Socialdemocrat created and repeatedly edited his own Misplaced Pages page. The newspaper highlighted edits such as those describing Umunna as the British Barack Obama. Umunna told the Daily Telegraph that he did not alter his own Misplaced Pages page, but the paper quoted what they called "sources close to Umunna" as having told the newspaper that "it was possible that one of his campaign team in 2007, when he was trying to be selected to be Labour's candidate for Streatham in the 2010 general election, set up the page."

In 2013, it was revealed that whilst working as a solicitor in 2006, and before entering Parliament, he had signed up to the exclusive social networking website aSmallWorld under a pseudonym. He posted questions, asking for recommendations for "a trash-free, decent night" and complaining that "Most of the West End haunts seem to be full of trash and C-list wannabes." These statements led to The Daily Telegraph publishing an article in which he was accused of being "a champagne socialist" with "more faces than Armani suits." A spokesman for Umunna apologised "if any offence may have been caused."

References

  1. "Labour appoints fresh face to replace John Denham". Times Higher Education. 7 October 2011.
  2. "Chuka Umunna MP » One Nation Labour". Chuka.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  3. "Chuka Umunna: My vision for One Nation Labour". Left Foot Forward. 2011-05-12. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  4. Bloss, Andrew (08-03-12). "Friends fear Crystal Palace director was assassinated". London: The Croydon Guardian. Retrieved 2012-10-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. Profile of Chuka Umunna from This Is Local London
  6. "Chuka Umunna sidesteps Labour leadership question". The Daily Telegraph. 30 September 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  7. Umunna, Chuka, “The duty to inspire”, New Statesman, 30 August 2007
  8. Umunna, Chuka, “Ask the expert: Diversity in the City”, Financial Times, 11 September 2006
  9. Generation Next Committee
  10. ^ Umunna, Chuka, “In our inner cities, gangs are the new extended families”, The Guardian, 9 August 2007
  11. Womack, Sarah, “Black boys need role models not rappers”, The Telegraph, 14 August 2007
  12. Akbar, Arifa, “Former 'Sun' editor MacKenzie outrages Scots”, The Independent, 27 October 2007
  13. House of Commons Hansard Debates for 02 Jun 2010 (pt 0015)
  14. Treasury Committee - membership - UK Parliament
  15. Inman, Phillip (15 July 2010). "George Osborne offers MPs veto on choice of next budget watchdog". The Guardian. London.
  16. Sparrow, Andrew (3 November 2010). "Politics live blog + PMQs". The Guardian. London.
  17. New Statesman - The man’s not for turning
  18. Credit Rating Agencies: 16 Nov 2010: House of Commons debates - TheyWorkForYou
  19. New Clause 3 — Bank taxation: 8 Nov 2010: House of Commons debates - TheyWorkForYou
  20. "Ed Miliband: Nominations". labour.co.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  21. O'Hare, Sean (17 January 2011). "Labour MP urges Barclay's chief to reduce offshore subsidaries [sic]". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  22. Treannor, Jill (18 February 2011). "Barclays bank forced to admit it paid just £113m in corporation tax in 2009". The Guardian. London.
  23. "Ed Miliband promotes fresh faces to Labour top team". BBC News. 7 October 2011.
  24. Syal, Rajeev (23 January 2012). "Ed Miliband calls for Stephen Hester to be denied a reported £1.6m RBS bonus". The Guardian. London.
  25. "Duncan Smith: RBS bonus veto would have caused chaos". BBC News. 29 January 2012.
  26. Heighton, Luke (6 April 2013). "Chuka's Wiki'd act". The Sun. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  27. Hope, Christopher (7 April 2013). "Labour star Chuka Umunna admits his aides probably set up and edited his own Misplaced Pages page". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2013-04-08.
  28. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/9973697/Labours-Chuka-Umunna-under-fire-for-labelling-people-trash-on-elite-social-network.html

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded byKeith Hill Member of Parliament for Streatham
2010 – present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded byJohn Denham Shadow Business Secretary
2011 – present 		Incumbent

Template:UK Shadow Cabinet

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