WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT DIANE ABBOTT.
Right one of us political writer people needs to do this and it looks like it’s me. Grab a seat. I wanna talk about Diane.
Diane was first elected as an MP in 1987, the year before I was born. She has been dedicated to serving the British public for longer than I have even been alive. Hold that thought. Understand it.
Diane was the first black woman to have a seat in the House of Commons. She MADE HISTORY. Her father was welder, her mother a nurse. How many working class kids do we have in politics these days? feck all, really.
Diane went to Cambridge University to study history. IN THE SEVENTIES. In 2017 only 15 black kids went to Cambridge. Sit down and listen.
Diane worked for the Home Office in 1976. She was so smart they put her on a course to fast-track her career. (I’m just getting started.)
Diane was Race Relations Officer at the National Council for Civil Liberties from 1978 to 1980. (Big fecking job. Bet you couldn’t do it.)
Diane was a TV researcher and reporter from 1978 to 1985. I know a lot of those. They’re fast thinkers, avid fact hounds, brilliant minds.
Diane’s political career began in 1982, on Westminster City Council. Then in 1987, I’ll say it again, she became the first black female MP.
In 2008, her speech on civil liberties in the counterterrorism debate won Parliamentary Speech Of The Year in the Spectator awards.
That speech is here. Watch it, and then come back.
https://t.co/qNMvtilMa1
She founded the Black Child initiative, to raise educational achievements among black kids. She shared her damn platform.
She’s been the Shadow Minister for Public health, working tirelessly to tackle Tory cuts to children’s services, maternity care, all of it.
In September 2011, the Telegraph called her ‘one of Labours best frontbench performers’. The same Telegraph now monsters her for clicks.
Diane was one of 16 MPs to write to Miliband in 2015 asking him to commit to opposing further austerity measures. She did that for all of us. Diane was one of a tiny handful of MPs to defy the Labour whip and vote AGAINST Tory austerity cuts. Those cuts are KILLING people.
Diane has consistently voted against a reduction in spending on benefits. She has consistently voted for and campaigned for higher benefits over longer periods for people unable to work due to illness/disability.
In March she raised the issue of cuts to domestic violence services, in the House of Commons: “women and children are turned away daily”.
Diane has campaigned to help unaccompanied migrant children travelling from Greece and Italy.
Diane is a skilled orator, a quick thinker, a glorious debater, a genuine public servant and a thoroughly decent woman. I mean reading through Hansard right now is a delight, some of her points and comebacks are glorious. And brilliant. And strong.
31st Jan 2017 – demanding to know why ESOL funding was being cut while the immigration debate focused on the importance of integration…
She has spoken on Leveson, terrorism, education, poverty, welfare, illness, disability, refugees, child sexual abuse, pro-choice abortion. Her campaigns include legal aid, civil liberties, fighting crime, sickle cell thallasemia, public transport, improving education. She has given speeches at Harvard University, for Christ’s sake. Have you? She has travelled to Kenya, China, Uganda, all over the world, representing the Government. Representing Britain.
