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Movers & Shakers is about the most influential black men and women of tomorrow.  Black Power will be scouting for individuals in particular in the UK who we feel are moving in the right direction by doing their own thing.

Diane Abbott MP

Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington

Diane Abbot is the longest serving African Caribbean Member of Parliament and because she is also the first black female MP, Diana will always be one of Britain’s most significant iconoclasts. She remained the only black woman MP for ten years until she was joined in the Commons by Oona King in 1997. In 2008, she was named one of the ten most powerful black women in Britain.

But it is, perhaps, her steadfast adherence to the principles she espoused prior to and leading up to her June 1987 Parliamentary debut that distinguishes London’s Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP.

Unlike many backbench MPS, Diane has never been one to simply blend into the background and has been active in several political and social movements.

Diane’s attempted to establish a Black caucus within the Labour party along with the late Bernie Grant. However, she was the only person to attend the inaugural meeting. Diane tried again in 1989 but the it soon failed as senior black MPs did not want to join, with some suggesting it was fundamentally racist to create a “party within a party”.

Diane is well known for campaigning on the issue of race, for example her first parliamentary speech covered what she saw as racism in British immigration policies. However, some of her views on the subject have been controversial such as when she spoke at a black studies conference in Philadelphia and stated that Britain was one of the most fundamentally racist nations on earth, with The Times quoting her as saying that “The British invented racism”.

Education, particularly the way in which schools deal with African- Caribbean children, is an another issue close to her heart.

She remains the host and chief organiser of the annual London Schools & The Black Child conference, which attracts about 2,000 parents, teachers, children and other interested parties.  This forum’s growth over the past five years demonstrates Diane’s determination to continually champion causes she feels passionately about.

In parliament, Diane has served on a number of committees, including, throughout the 90s, the influential Treasury Select Committee.  She also enjoys a career as a TV pundit, having formed an unlikely double act wit former Tory MP Michael Portillo on the BBC politics digest This Week.

A former journalist, she has worked as a reporter with TV AM and Thames Television.  Born in west London to Jamaican parents, the mother of one, read history at Cambridge’s Newham College and forged her early reputation as a civil servant and activist who cut her political teeth serving on Westminster City Council.  She was also a public relations officer with The Greater London Council (GLC) and head of Lambeth Council press office.

This story is filed under: Politics