Diane (Julie) ABBOTT Labour HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE

Diane (Julie) ABBOTT Labour HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE NEWINGTON ‘87

Majority: 13,651 (46.1%) over Conservative 5-way; Description: HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE NEWINGTON Under-privileged northeast London working-class area with "the highest unemployment in the southeast" (DA); has a third of non- whites and only a quarter of owner-occupiers; only slightly gentrified, with one Tory ward; Position: Chairman, Parliamentary Group on Gun Crime '03-; on all-party Parliamentary Group on Street Prostitution '94-; Secretary, Campaign Group '03-, '92- 93; ex: on Foreign Affairs Select Committee '97-01, Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee '89-97; on Labour's NEC '94-97; in Ken Livingstone's Advisory Cabinet '00; Westminster Councillor '82-86; President, Anti-Racist Alliance '94; Chairman, Parliamentary Black Caucus '89-90; Vice Chairman, Black Sections Steering Committee '86- 89; Outlook: A former leader of the `ostracised Left' who remains one of dozen most penetrating burrs on the Blairite saddle, with 26 rebellions (llth) in the '97-01 Parliament and 48 (15th) rebellions in '01-02; her "indefensible" (DA) gesture in '03 in sending her son to a secondary school requiring #10,000 in annual fees undermined her status as the colour-and-class- conscious first black woman in the Commons and on Labour's NEC; she had already been squeezed off the NEC and two successive select committees, where she posed brutally direct probing questions; as "an elected member of the Labour NEC in the mid-'90s, I had a ringside seat as internal democracy of the party was dismantled" (DA); a highly-charged, highly- intelligent, sarcastic, pugnacious extrovert who can make "a serious and thoughtful contribution" (Tory MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown); her pugnacity can be counter- productive: "I am sick and tired of being lectured at and insulted by Diane Abbott" (Labour MP Colin Pickthall); she has recently been a cheer-leader for Mayor Ken Livingstone, whom she once described as "unscrupulous and power-crazy"; was long the pair of Jonathan Aitken with whom she conversed for twenty minutes from his notorious Saudi-paid room in al-Fayed's Ritz Hotel, Paris; she is unswervingly loyal to the Eurosceptic, hard- Left Campaign Group; best at passionate, coherent oratory; tends to overstate and under-prepare, as when she described as "blonde" and "blue-eyed" a black nurse imported from Finland; "fearless in the face of opprobrium" (Claudia Fitzherbert, DAILY TELEGRAPH); semi-Trot (Socialist Action), but anti-Militant (because they are against blacks and women); an advocate of female equality, working-class control and better educational opportunities for school-age black males; the only black MP who has remained loyal to black sections; "like a politically active Eartha Kitt", "she may purr her way to the top; but with Leftwing claws like that, she is no pussy cat" (Baroness Falkender); slightly mellowing: "as I get older I realise that real progress is evolutionary and that it happens at a snail's pace"; was formerly highly ambitious, but as someone completely outside the Blair camp, she has lowered her sights to hoping "to be a good constituency MP and a good mother"; sponsored by RMT '02-; History: When a child, local racists forced her parents to leave Paddington for Harrow; she joined the Labour Party '71; she joined Anti-Apartheid, CND and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, which backed Tony Benn for Deputy Leadership Sep '81; was elected for her natal ward on Westminster Council May '82; as candidate for women's section of NEC, won 1,382,000 votes Sep '84; vigorously moved motion supporting black sections at annual conference, attacking Militant, Labour Rightwingers and Labour "racists" Oct '84; had conversations with Brent East ward officials about her standing against Ken Livingstone who was seeking to replace its MP, Reg Freeson Nov '84; co-authored, with Trotskyist Sharon

Atkin, a paper for a hard Left (LABOUR BRIEFING and Target Labour Government) conference in Birmingham, versions of which claimed: "a Labour Government which really tried to take power from the capitalist class would find itself blocked; a new apparatus would have to be formed...destroying the outlived state machinery"; "we are not interested in reforming the prevailing institutions - of the police, armed services, judiciary and monarchy - through which the ruling class keep us in `our' place; we are about dismantling them and replacing them with our own machinery of class rule" Jan-Feb '85; confronted Ken Livingstone over premature activities by his supporters in Brent East Feb '85; ran second to Livingstone in selection for Brent East Apr '85; was on all-woman short list for Westminster North May '85; on `Briefing' slate won 1,426,000 votes for NEC in women's section Sep '85; accused Kinnock of wanting to be Prime Minister at any cost Oct '85; backed absolute support for Scargill in the miners' strike Oct '85; moved motion calling for women's seats on NEC be elected by women alone Oct '85; was selected for safe Hackney, replacing reluctant, aged Ernest Roberts by 42 to 35, after having told selectors "to choose between a selection that looked to the past or one that looked to the future", overcoming resistance from Livingstoneites and LABOUR BRIEFING backers Dec '85; was endorsed by NEC Jan '86; won 654,000 votes in women's section of NEC Sep '86; at the hard-Left LABOUR HERALD conference meeting said Neil Kinnock was purging the Left to "make the party more acceptable to journalists"; warned: "if they came for Militant in the morning, they'll come for the rest of us in the afternoon" Sep '86; again lost conference battle for black sections Oct '86; predicted a "caucus" of black Labour MPs in the next Parliament Oct '86; was elected with 7,678 majority June '87; joined hard-Left Campaign Group June '87; was only one to turn up for first meeting of "black caucus" of Labour MPs June '87; visited Tamils detained on ferry Aug '87; with support of Campaign Group, CLPD and Labour Left Liaison, ran ninth in contest for seven constituency seats on Labour's NEC, with 234,000 votes Sep '87; in her belated Maiden she disparaged Government's Immigration Bill as "born in racism" Nov '87; backed Jeremy Corbyn's right to insist on Commons entry for a formerly imprisoned ex-IRA- sympathising researcher Nov '87; urged "racism awareness training" in Whitehall Dec '87; acclaimed ILEA for its contribution to Hackney's special educational needs Feb '88; belittled `Action for Cities' as a "PR initiative" Mar '88; said ILEA educated 45% of black children "if you attack education in London you are attacking the educational prospects of nearly half the black children at school" Mar '88; in the USA she described UK as "one of the most fundamentally racist nations on earth" Apr '88; backed Militant Dave Nellist against Speaker's suspension of him Apr '88; co-sponsored Tony Benn's Bill to ban foreign nuclear bases Apr '88; complained that the 38,000 in Hackney on housing benefit would mostly have their benefits cut under Housing Benefit (Changes) Bill Apr '88; accused Zola Budd of being a "walking, talking, running, public relations stunt for Apartheid" Apr '88; accused Commons attendants of maltreating black visitors May '88; said, "we have seen in London a Government bent on a spiteful, wholly ideological holy war against areas whose only fault is they voted Labour" July '88; won 258,000 votes for constituency section of NEC Oct '88; claimed that in almost 7 years she and Sharon Atkin had put the issue of "black self- organisation" on Labour's agenda; welcomed Larry Whitty's attempted compromise proposal on black sections but said she would wait to see if it was "a holding mechanism" or could deliver on "the principle of black self-organisation" Oct '88; voted against Defence Estimates Oct '88; voted against anti-IRA oath in Elected Authorities Bill, instead of abstaining as requested Dec '88; strongly urged Parliamentary oversight of security services Dec '88; voted against Prevention of Terrorism Bill Dec '88; warned that Thames Water was planning to cram 1,100 houses into Stoke Newington reservoir site Feb '89; opposed threat to Rushdie because "censorship is wrong and any calls for censorship by any fundamentalist religious leaders should be resisted" Feb '89; was named to Treasury Select Committee Mar '89; with Bernie Grant and Keith Vaz,

2 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. Diane (Julie) ABBOTT Labour HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE NEWINGTON ‘87 launched Black Parliamentary Caucus, imitating that in Washington Mar '89; urged a black Labour candidate be selected for Vauxhall by-election Apr '89; complained about deterioration of London Transport Apr '89; with 49 other CND MPs, reaffirmed their rejection of Neil Kinnock's abandonment of unilateralism May '89; speaking of her former jobs as press officer for Ken Livingstone and Ted Knight, said: "I know what it is like to work for unscrupulous and power- crazy politicians" June '89; received 196,000 votes for NEC Oct '89; complained of under-provision of health care in Hackney Nov '89; complained that "in the headlong pursuit of market values, Conservative Members are willing to throw away all that is good about British television" Dec '89; complained about the absence of aid to Vietnam Dec '89; disclosed confidential minutes of a secret seminar in the Carlton Club to privatise the NHS Dec '89; criticising Tory MPs for near-racism on Hongkong asylum proposals, claimed they would react differently to South African white immigrants Dec '89; criticised Labour's "studied ambiguity" about immigration from Hongkong Jan '90; in CAMPAIGN GROUP NEWS said "the necessity for exchange controls is obvious" Jan '90; accused Mrs Thatcher of being "Apartheid's fifth columnist" Feb '90; urged reduction of 3rd world debt by 50% as a footnote to Treasury Select Committee report Mar '90; said she would pay her poll tax, although prominent in non-payment campaign Mar '90; astonished colleagues by stating "the London Labour Party is not just an adventure playground for Trotskyists" (GUARDIAN) June '90; after visiting Frankfurt, Berlin and Budapest with Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee, said East Germany and Eastern Europe were ripe for a German takeover "at knockdown prices" June-July '90; claimed Hackney was suffering from the second highest level of teachers' vacancies in the country July '90; voted against Gulf War Sep '90; received 189,000 votes in constituency section of NEC Oct '90; voted for Jonathan Aitken's anti-EEC amendment Dec '90; again voted against Gulf War Jan '91; said that her weekly surgeries were dominated by complaints about damp housing Mar '91; with other hard-Leftists on `Committee for a Just Peace in the Middle East', opposed restoring the Kuwaiti regime because it had never been elected and treated its women badly Apr '91; urged re-scheduling of Nigeria's debts Apr '91; was on Campaign Group slate for NEC May '91; defended Norman Lamont's #50 tax on mobile phones June '91; urged aid for "good government" of Sierra Leone June '91; claimed Labour had achieved more social and racial integration in London than reached in New York or Washington June '91; with others in Campaign Group complained that Labour's leadership was too timid; called for restoration of full employment, lower ERM parities Sept '91; on hard-Left Campaign Group slate, her constituency section vote dropped from 189,000 to 101,000 Sep '91; held her seat with a 5.56% swing to Labour Apr '92; became Secretary of Campaign Group May '92; dropped to 49,000 votes for NEC's constituency section Sep '92; was rebuked by Labour's Gordon Brown for saying UK had entered the ERM on too high a parity Oct '92; claimed Bank of England only moved against BCCI because New York authorities were about to act and expose their laxity Oct '92; defended Barts hospital against Tomlinson threat Oct '92; visited Germany where she witnessed "the rising tide of racism and anti-Semitism" Oct '92; opposed the Government's Asylum and Immigration Appeals Bill: "Conservative Members cannot understand what it means to come from rural Jamaica or Trinidad - to have saved and come across in one's best suit - only to be treated by immigration officers as some sort of criminal" Nov '92; opposed Maastricht as leading to "a fortress Europe, a xenophobic little Europe" Nov '92; was rated as one of the most rebellious Labour MPs, with 7 rebellious out of a possible nine Feb '93; told Cabinet Secretary Sir Robin Butler that "you were used by Mr [Jonathan] Aitken to give credibility to what remains a very opaque episode" - the payment for Aitken's stay at the Ritz Hotel in Paris Mar '93; voted against 3rd Reading for Maastricht Bill May '93; in wake of murder of black schoolboy, spoke against racial violence May '93; complained of growth of prostitution and kerb-crawling in her constituency May '93; in GUARDIAN letter co-opposed

3 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. Diane (Julie) ABBOTT Labour HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE NEWINGTON ‘87 military intervention in Bosnia, for fear of being involved in a "Vietnam- type war in Europe" June '93; introduced Workplace Childcare Bill to provide creches, a Bill she later abandoned June '93; in INDEPENDENT letter co-urged lifting of US trade embargo on Cuba July '93; accused Tory MPs like Winston Churchill of being "most unpleasant and unsavoury" in talking about immigration and asylum matters July '93; complained that fight against drugs in London, "the drug capital of the UK", was being starved of resources July '93; in a DAILY MAIL feature her husband, architect David Thompson, disclosed that their marriage had been a "sham" devised to prevent her from falling into "the black stereotype of having a baby out of wedlock" Sep '93; opposed restoring capital punishment Feb '94; voted to reduce age of homosexual consent to 16, Feb '94; complained about growth of drugs in her constituency Mar '94; urged Margaret Beckett to stand to avoid an all-male contest May '94; voted for Margaret Beckett for Leader and Deputy Leader July '94; was accused of fare dodging July '94; she surprised observers by beating Mo Mowlam to retain her last-place NEC seat with 36,539 votes and, with women's preference, also beating Ken Livingstone who received 47,960 votes Oct '94; co- sponsored Tony Benn's Bill to remove curbs on unions Oct '94; was one of a score of Campaign Groupies who wrote to the GUARDIAN opposing the Criminal Justice Bill as criminalising protest and removing the historic right of silence Oct '94; voted against European Communities (Finance) Bill Nov '94; with three other NEC members, opposed Tony Blair's revised Clause IV document as "full of feel-good phrases and just vague waffle" Nov '94; was elected President of the Anti-Racist Alliance, in succession to Ken Livingstone, but walked out three weeks later in protest against the activities of Marc Wadsworth ("impossible to work with") Oct- Nov '94; on the NEC, voted with Clare Short and Dennis Skinner against the Clause IV reform timetable Dec '94; warned that "if a new Labour government takes off with only wishy-washy ideas, then the civil service will eat them alive" Feb '95; on the NEC, voted against the Blairite version of Clause IV Mar '95; told BBC radio that the new Clause IV was "a lot of tosh"; if the Blair leadership asked for a vote on "the healing qualities of cabbage", it would get it Apr '95; wrote: "elections to the Shadow Cabinet provide a useful corrective to patronage and cronyism" June '95; urged a more intensive anti-drug programme to protect inner-city dwellers like her constituents June '95; with Bernie Grant, refused to attend a meeting on mugging with Sir Paul Condon because he had said that most muggings in London were carried out by black youths July '95; retained her seat on the NEC with an improved vote of 45,653, with the help of pro-female discrimination which enabled her to defeat Jack Straw Oct '95; with other Campaign Groupies, backed a dissident motion to cut Defence expenditure to the average of other West European states Oct '95; attacked anti-black racism in sport Oct '95; on the NEC, with Dennis Skinner, voted against the compromise on the candidacy of semi-Trotskyist Liz Davies Oct '95; on the NEC, with Dennis Skinner, voted against suspending the Leader and Deputy Leader of Walsall Council for having led a "party within a party" Nov '95; attacked Michael Howard's Asylum and Immigration Bill as "cruel", "inhumane", colour-biased and "based on a wholly unquantified, exaggerated and apocalyptic notion of the threat that so-called bogus asylum- seekers present to the British way of life" Dec '95; was "sad" at the abandonment of all- women short- lists because of judicial resistance Jan '96; attacked Clause 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Bill, aimed at barring employment of illegal immigrants, as making employment more difficult for all coloured workers; pointed out that official unemployment was 60% among black males between 18 and 24 Feb '96; with Dennis Skinner voted against Tony Blair's proposal to ballot Labour's membership on an unamendable party manifesto Mar '96; was one of 25 Labour rebels voting against the renewal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act Mar '96; the all-party Parliamentary Group on Street Prostitution which she had chaired was not able to reach agreed radical solutions Mar '96; with Ken Livingstone wrote to the GUARDIAN claiming that child benefit paid to 1m families for older teenagers made the

4 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. Diane (Julie) ABBOTT Labour HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE NEWINGTON ‘87 difference between keeping children in school or not Apr '96; accused Tory Minister Ann Widdecombe of "utterly repellent" views on childbirth Apr '96; was one of the rebels against Jack Straw's agreement to co-operate with the Tory anti-terrorist Bill, including new stop-and- search provisions Apr '96; criticised Jack Straw's plans for a "curfew" on wayward youngsters June '96; claimed that "although a quarter of our professional footballers are black, a tiny proportion of regular attenders at football matches are black", showing "the continuing prevalence of racism among football crowds" June '96; led group urging more anti- kerbcrawler powers July '96; voted to reduce MPs' mileage allowance but to base pensions on a salary increased to #43,000 July '96; with Ann Clwyd, resisted John Prescott's appeal not to stand against Harriet Harman for the Shadow Cabinet, accusing Labour Whips of stuffing ballot boxes with the votes of absentee MPs; she claimed Harman had her own "Assisted Places scheme"; was criticised by Chief Whip Donald Dewar for charging the Blair leadership with "strong-arm tactics" July '96; she aligned herself with Denzil Davies, Alan Simpson and other Eurosceptics in opposition to a single European currency, saying: "you will get turmoil if Gordon Brown as Chancellor in a Labour Government has to make #18b worth of spending cuts and has to give way to the European bankers" July '96; warned the NEC it was backing the wrong faction in Hackney July '96; opposed Tom Sawyer's proposal to downgrade the NEC in favour of an unaccountable Policy Forum July '96; wrote to General Secretary Tom Sawyer saying it was a "fatal miscalculation" not to back the Hackney faction urging an inquiry into Hackney Social Services Aug '96; a survey credited her with 30 rebellions since '92, a third as many as Dennis Skinner Sep '96; criticised Gordon Brown for proposing to end child benefit grants for 16-to-18-year-olds Sep '96; retained her NEC seat with votes increased to 54,800 Sep '96; on `Breakfast with Frost', she criticised Harriet Harman for sending her son to a grammar school in Orpington: "She made the Labour Party look as if we do one thing and say another" Sep? '96; was sharply critical of the Bank of England's failures to prevent financial collapses Nov '96; in the HACKNEY GAZETTE criticised local Homerton Hospital for employing "blonde, blue- eyed girls from Finland, instead of nurses from the Caribbean who know the language and understand British culture and institutions" Nov '96; Marc Wadsworth, of the Anti-Racist Alliance, riposted that the current `Miss Finland' was "a black Finn like me" Nov '96; complained that EMU was a device for political as well as economic union, and would impose lower social expenditure Nov '96; she was targeted for her pro-choice views by the Pro-life Alliance Party which urged opposition to her by an anti-abortion candidate Feb '97; was sharp in her assault on those who had mis-sold pensions and delayed compensating victims Mar '97; in campaigning for fellow Campaign Groupie Alan Simpson in Nottingham, supported Labour's manifesto, although she had not voted for it on the NEC, "because I felt the words weren't right in some respects, but it is party policy, right?" Apr '97; retained her seat with a 15,627 majority, an increase of of 5,000 on a pro-Labour swing of 8.3% May '97; lost her longtime `pair' when Jonathan Aitken lost his Thanet South seat after the collapse of his libel action against the GUARDIAN May '97; was the only Labour member of the Treasury Select Committee to oppose Gordon Brown's proposal to give independence to the Bank of England because it was "fundamentally undemocratic" and "we cannot decouple economic management from politics" June '97; she was removed from the Treasury Select Committee and put on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee July '97; retained her seat on Labour's NEC in last place, with 76.772 votes, 8,000 ahead of Peter Mandelson but behind Ken Livingstone and Harriet Harman Sep '97; backed Dennis Skinner in opposing PR for the Euro-elections Oct '97; opposed the Bill giving independence to the Bank of England as "the first step towards Maastricht" and a single currency Nov '97; she denied the claims of Tony Blair's spin doctors that the PM had warned her at the NEC against informing the media of her insistence on Labour's full disclosure of its sources of finances before discussing it in the NEC or PLP Nov '97; was one of the 23 rebels

5 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. Diane (Julie) ABBOTT Labour HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE NEWINGTON ‘87 who voted against the cut in lone-parent benefits Dec '97; asked PM Blair to justify cutting benefit for mothers with under-5 children unable to go out to work Dec '97; had adjournment debate on racism in the armed forces Jan '98; contrasted treatment of white Falkland Islanders and black Montserratians Feb '98; said there was no unanimity on a military strike against Iraq in the UN or the Arab world; was one of 23 Leftwing or pacifist MPs who rebelled against endorsing a military strike Feb '98; attacked the closed-list system of PR for Euro- elections as "possibly the worst conceivable system of PR" Mar '98; after she said tuition fees would bar the kids of poor families from attending university - "without access to a grant and free tuition, a working-class black 16-year-old [like me] could never have gone to Cambridge" - complained that Education Secretary David Blunkett heckled her in the Commons "after the style of a comedy- club drunk"; the Deputy Speaker intervened in her support Mar '98; attacked Trevor Phillips as "Mandelson's glove puppet" in his bid for the London mayoralty Mar '98; backed most of the Budget but baited Chancellor Brown on his welfare-to-work programme, asking whether it could succeed in her deprived constituency if there was a recession due to his devolving interest-rate responsibility to the Governor of the Bank of England Apr '98; on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, gave Foreign Minister Tony Lloyd a hard time over his fumblingly inadequate answers on Sierra Leone; despite Whips' pressures, she repeated this in the Commons May '98; voted against the abolition of student maintenance grants, which she had needed to attend university June '98; complained about misinformation on Sierra Leone supplied to Foreign Affairs Select Committee July '98; opposed Murdoch's predatory pricing July '98; urged PM Tony Blair to apply at home his advice to Chinese leaders to "have the confidence to allow dissent" Oct '98; opposed closed- list PR for Euro-elections Nov '98; worried about vulnerability to racist attacks of dispersed asylum-seekers Feb '99; opposed means- testing of incapacity benefits May '99; she maintained a deafening silence on the downfall of Jonathan Aitken, her former pair and godfather of her son, with whom she spoke during a 20- minute call from his infamous suite at the Ritz, Paris June '99; rebelled against mean-testing for incapacity benefits Nov '99; led motion protesting 33-47% increases in Cambridge University rents as damaging to efforts to widen access Nov '99; although among the 9 Labour MPs who originally backed Livingstone as Labour's mayoral candidate, when he was excluded from the party she said she would vote for Frank Dobson Feb '00; opposed curbs on jury trials Mar '00; in 3rd biggest anti-Blair revolt, was one of 41 Labour MPs who demanded pensions be linked with average wage Apr '00; she joined TGWU chief Bill Morris in attacking the Blair Government as "racist" Apr '00; she attacked as "naive" Blairite black Trevor Phillips' claim that Blair was seeking more ethnic representation among MPs, citing her experience on the NEC, where even the much- hailed advance for women candidates produced only one black woman May '00; when it looked as though the white widow of Bernie Grant might win selection in Tottenham, she joined with other black and half-black Labour MPs to urge increased ethnic representation May '00; urged Ken Livingstone's readmission to the Labour Party; she agreed to join Ken's `Advisory Cabinet', handling the woman's and equality portfolio June '00; attacked Blair Government for capitulating to "homophobes" in Lords on Section 28, July '00; urged a "fair, non-racist" immigration policy Oct '00; voted to delay part- privatisation of air-traffic control Nov '00; led letter attacking US embargo on Cuba Nov '00; urged almost-bankrupt Hackney be given an emergency grant Nov '00; urged a 30% increase in minimum wage Jan '01; voted against fox-hunting with dogs Jan '01; said "he Labour Party that cuts itself off from its trade union roots is a Labour Party that cuts itself adrift" Mar '01; voted against listing proscribed terrorist organisations Mar '01; the semi-Trotskyist, Liz Davies, her former colleague on the NEC now in Scargill's Socialist Alliance, said in her `Through the Looking Glass' that she would vote for Diane Abbott in Hackney Mar '01; Abbott blamed the wider gap between rich and poor on New Labour keeping low income tax as a "sacrement" when income tax was "a

6 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. Diane (Julie) ABBOTT Labour HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE NEWINGTON ‘87 key lever in redistributing wealth" Apr '01; Ken Livingstone campaigned for her in Hackney May '01; during the campaign she attacked the two local Orthodox LibDem and Tory councillors found gulty of vote-rigging May '01; she retained her seat with a similarly large majority May '01; was squeezed out of Foreign Affairs Select Committee; with Jeremy Corbyn urged MPs to make Labour Whips reconsider sacking Gwyneth Dunwoody and Donald Anderson as committee chairmen July '01; attacked PFI because contractors rigged the public service comparator against employees July '01; insisted "public opinion in this country is turning against the bombing" in Afghanistan; scorned those claiming to liberate Afghan women by scathingly referring to "cluster-bombs for feminism"; with 10 other Labour MPs voted for pause in bombing Nov '01; voted with 20 other Labour MPs against David Blunkett's new anti-terrorist Bill Nov '01; complaining that "British schools are failing black children," urged more male teachers for male black school children; teachers replied that fault lay mainly in the four-fifth of Jamaican children abandoned by their fathers Jan '02; attacked Government for having failed to install sprinklers in Yarls Wood detention centre, where fire endangered "innocent detainees" Feb '02; blamed Blair Government's "breathtaking arrogance" in inflicting PPP on London Underground for Labour's "humiliating result" in the Mayoral election Feb '02; urged minimum five-year sentences for gunmen terrorising Hackney Mar '02; she complained that the scandals about rich Asian businessmen corrupting New Labour was because the "so-called High Value Donors Unit at Millbank [was] a law unto itself and driven by No 10 Downing Street - in effect by Jonathan Powell" Mar '02; opposed prospect of bombing campaign against Iraq Mar '02; staged conference protesting low educational achievement expectations for young black males Apr '02; she opposed cutting child benefit from parents who could not control tearaways, saying "in practice many of these women, and they are mostly women, even if they wanted to control their children, couldn't" Apr '02; opposed part-privatisation of the Commonwealth Development Corporation Apr '02; she asked why Londoners were about to have the same system of privatisation which created Railtrack foisted onto their Underground May '02; as John Prescott was forced to give up his RMT sponsorship because of the union's newly Leftwing leadership's demands, she was disclosed to be one of the RMT's new Leftwing Parliamentary support group, including Jeremy Corbyn June '02; urged a royal commission to assess asylum-seekers rather than allow David Blunkett to play to a "Rightwing agenda" June '02; she appeared in the #1m anti-Euro film shown in cinemas June '02; urged Livingstone's readmission to the Labour Party as "a health check on New Labour" because his "long-standing support for equality and racial justice is much closer to the thinking of Labour grassroots than anything coming out of Millbank" July '02; she attended the Queen's first garden party of the season "because my sister wanted to come" July '02; "selling the Euro to the British public is going to be a little like selling ice cubes to Eskimos" Aug '02; opposed the Government on Iraq Sep '02; she wanted "stage-managed" annual conference to discuss the impending war in Iraq Oct '02; she backed the LibDem amendment to bar action against Iraq without a UN resolution Nov '02; she was one of the speakers featured by Ken Livingstone in Queen Elizabeth II Hall Nov '02; voted against the adjournment, as a gesture against war with Iraq Jan '03; opposed war in Iraq Feb, Mar '03; opposed foundation hospitals May '03; opposed Bill to impose settlements in firemen's strike May '03; opposed curbs on jury trials May '03; voted against foundation hospitals July '03; in the by- election campaign she said, "the people of Brent East, like others in Britain, need education on the basis of merit, not on the ability to pay" Sep '03; in CAMPAIGN GROUP NEWS she blamed the loss of Brent East on Labour's failure to field a black candidate; at a Campaign Group fringe meeting at annual conference she said Tony Blair's presidential style was testing the Labour Party to destruction Oct '03; she was disclosed to have enrolled her 12-year-old son, James, in the #10,000 a year City of London School, at his request; she admitted this was "indefensible" and might cost her her job, but had "made

7 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. Diane (Julie) ABBOTT Labour HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE NEWINGTON ‘87 this choice becuse of the catastrophic failure of black boys in Britain's schools" Oct '03; it was disclosed that she had not registered her income from Andrew Neil's late-night BBC political show, on which she appeared with her old friend, Michael Portillo, who did register his income Nov '03; as Chairman of the Parliamentary Group on Gun Crime, she preferred better "detection and conviction" rates to arming the police Nov '03; she confronted Tory MP Andrew Rosindell for having shopped her about failing to register her #13,000 of BBC earnings; she apologised to the Commons about her failure to register Jan '04; she voted against the Higher Education Bill Jan '04; Born: 27 September 1953 , Paddington, London Family: Daughter, of late Jamaican-born Reginald Abbott, ex- welder, who discouraged her taking A-levels but also told her: "no good coming second; you have to be better than white people"; "you could say my whole life has been a search for my father's approval, because I never got it when he was alive", and late Julia (Mclymont), retired mental hospital worker, who also came from rural Jamaica in '50; her mother's funeral service was at fashionable St Margaret's, Westminster; m May '91 Ghanaian architect David Thompson, who had had three children by differing previous relationships; he claimed he was bullied by her friends and their communities into marrying her when pregnant: "it was not going to look good if some African guy had got Britain's first black woman MP pregnant and then dumped her"; their son, James Alexander Kojo was born Oct '91, christened in Commons Crypt Dec '91, with her then Tory `pair' Jonathan Aitken as its godfather; the `marriage', with separate flats and occasional weekend meetings, terminated after the April 1992 election; "I was paraded around the doorsteps during the last election, but was excluded from her victory celebration; I was just the walk-on part"; in May 1992, she wrote: "I know perfectly well that you never wanted to marry, and for me the relationship has been empty, humiliating and pointless"; the solicitors' letters which began in August 1992 included a demand that he sign a legal agreement barring him from talking to the press, which he refused to sign; the separation was announced in Sep '93; Education: Harrow County Grammar School for Girls (the only black girl there; teachers found her "very confident and not easily fazed by anything"; gained 10 O-levels and 4 A- levels; played in joint drama society with Michael Portillo, including TS Eliot's `Murder in the Cathedral'; wore pebble glasses and spent her pocket money on sweets); Newnham College (was its first black state school student), Cambridge University (lower second in History); Occupation: Radio and TV performer: #13,000 from the BBC in '03; Shareholder, Smithville Associates (training consultancy, Director '01-02) '01-; ex: Press Officer for Lambeth Council Leader, half-black Linda Bellos '86-87; was in Press Office of GLC '84-85; Reporter, for Thames TV and TV-AM (Equality Officer of ACTT) '80-84; National Council for Civil Liberties (where she worked for Cobden Trust against `sus' laws and on race relations) '79; Trainee Civil Servant in Home Office (denies having worn a see-through blouse; "I was just one token black person in a fundamentally racist institution") '75-78; Traits: Short; chubby; "she dresses these days in black stretch velvet and looks like an exploding mole" (Matthew Parris, TIMES); attractive Benin head; articulate; ambitious; is regularly restyled in pursuit of current fashion (her suits are "made by one of my favourite designers, Jenny Fletcher-Simms, a black haute couture designer based in Hackney"); "likes her gear cut sprauncy rather than severe" (Alix Coleman, SUNDAY EXPRESS); a fat-fighter ("don't ask me about my measurements; they make me neurotic; it's not impossible to seem slim if you're overweight, but its expensive; I have a short neck, waist and legs and very square shoulders and I've always yearned to be a willowy Somali woman; I'm always on a diet"; spent four days and #185 slimming at Lord de Saumarez's health hydro to remove her "wobbly bits" June '87 and thereafter, even when pricier; she gave up by May '93 when she

8 Copyright © Parliamentary Profile Services Ltd. Diane (Julie) ABBOTT Labour HACKNEY NORTH & STOKE NEWINGTON ‘87 signed a motion against diets "because 96% don't work and dieting causes other problems, including low self- esteem, constipation and headaches"); enjoys West Indian Sunday dinner of chicken, rice, red kidney beans, onions and coconut; formerly paired with Jonathan Aitken, her ex-boss at TV-AM; "spoiled and self-indulgent" (John Torode, INDEPENDENT); "tempestuous" (EVENING STANDARD); "insolent grin" (DAILY TELEGRAPH); uses "abusive language" (Chris Grant, former aide): she said Anne Widdecombe "never had a fuck"; "subjected us to a humiliating tirade" (Wood Green Civic Centre); can be "sophisticated and amusing, bringing a welcome gust of humour" (DAILY TELEGRAPH); although "disarmingly jolly", "the language is menacing, the jargon is dire, instantly classifying Miss Abbott as a member of the Surly Tendency" (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH); "gutsy", "angry", "punching the air with her fist, being outrageous, looking for trouble", "always having rows"; "pushy", "cheeky" (Julia Langdon, DAILY MIRROR); says: "life is one perpetual hassle when you're a British black woman", "as a woman you always have to be better than a man to get on in life; as a black woman you have to be better still"; "I've always been a talker, ever since I was three"; her conversation is laced with expletives; highly selective in her human contacts; jokingly described as her "finest half hour" a clothed lovemaking session with a naked man in a Cotswolds field (SHE April '85); a longtime friend of Jeremy Corbyn; "prefers the company of her old friends" (Trevor Leighton, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH); no church-goer ("the Baptists probably think I'm with the Pentecostalists and the Pentecostalists think I'm with the Baptists; and all the time I'm at home ploughing through the SUNDAY TIMES"); admits to procrastination; enjoys watching `Blind Date' and listening to R&B and soul; Address: House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 0AA; 8 Manor House Pl, Palentine Ave, Stoke Newington, London N16 8XH; Telephone: 0207 219 5062/4426 (H of C); 0207 275 8414;