Chuka Harrison Umunna born 17 October 1978 is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham since 2010, as well as the Shadow Business Secretary since 2011.
Early life]
Umunna was born in the UK in 1978. His father Bennett, who was a Nigerian of the Igbo ethnic group, died in a road accident in Nigeria in 1992. His Irish mother, Patricia, is a solicitor and the daughter of High Court Judge Sir Helenus Milmo. 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. During this period he was also a chorister at Southwark Cathedral. He has said that his politics and moral values come from Christianity, but that he is "not majorly religious". He holds a LLB in English and French Law from the University of Manchester; after graduating he studied for one term at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, before studying for an MA at Nottingham Law School.
Career]
Having completed his studies in 2002, he began as a solicitor at Herbert Smith in the City of London. In 2006 he joined Rochman Landau working in employment law.
From 2006 onwards, Umunna began to write and provide commentary on the Labour Party, social, and economic issues, usually as a member of the Management Committee of the Labour aligned Compass pressure group. He has also written for the Financial Times, Tribune, The Voice, The Guardian and the New Statesman, and broadcast on radio and television. He founded and edited an online political magazine, The Multicultural Politic. In 2007 he worked for John Cruddas' unsuccessful campaign to become Labour Deputy Leader.
Political career]
Member of Parliament]
In March 2008, Umunna was adopted as the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for Streatham. At the 2010 general election, he was elected Member of Parliament for Streatham with a 3,259 majority; he gave his maiden speech on 2 June 2010. He took a particular interest in economic policy and reform of the City, and he was subsequently elected to serve on the Treasury Select Committee.
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 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 until he was promoted to be Shadow Minister for Small Business and Enterprise. 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 election due in May 2015. 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.
Controversies]
Online activity]
In April 2013, The Sun stated that in 2007 Umunna, using the Wikipedia Username Social democrat, created and repeatedly edited his own Wikipedia page. The newspaper highlighted edits such as those describing Umunna as the British Barack Obama and 'gifted'. Umunna told the Daily Telegraph that he did not alter his own Wikipedia 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." On 11 April 2013, the Evening Standard stated that an edit in January 2008 to Umunna's Wikipedia page was made from a computer at the law firm at which he then worked. Umunna said that he had "no recollection" of doing so.
Gambling
Umunna was accused of hypocrisy when it emerged that he had accepted a £20,000 gift from a gambling executive, even though he has been campaigning against the spread of bettng shops in his constituency and had promised new powers to limit them.
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