Diane Abbott MP - Speech

in association with NUS Black Students' Campaign and The Great Debate Tour.
An evening with leading parliamentarians -- Diane Abbott MP (Labour), Kwasi Kwarteng MP (Conservative) and Cllr Lester Holloway (Liberal Democrats) to discuss the difficulties currently facing young Black students to not only entering, but prospering in UK politics.
Speaker Profile
Diane Abbott MP
In 1987 Diane Abbott made history by becoming the first black woman ever elected to the British Parliament. She has since built a distinguished career as a parliamentarian, broadcaster and commentator. Diane studied at Newnham College Cambridge where she obtained a Masters degree in history. When she left Cambridge University Diane joined Government as a Home Office Civil Servant. Diane is founder of the London Schools and the Black Child initiative, which aims to raise educational achievement levels amongst Black children. She hosts an annual conference for educators, children and their parents and an annual academic awards ceremony. In May 2010 Diane was re-elected in her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and doubled her majority on an increased turn-out. In June 2010, she made the ballot for the Labour leadership contest and took part in the summer long campaign to elect the next Labour leader. Diane is currently Shadow Minister for Public Health. Diane has served on a number of parliamentary committees on social and international issues. She was also elected on to the National Executive of the Labour Party. For most of the 1990′s she also served on the Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons. This is the committee which deals with business and finance matters. As a member of this committee Diane travelled frequently to Washington DC, New York, Frankfurt and other financial centres. She met with senior politicians, bankers and financial regulators internationally and she helped to author a series of official reports on issues such as Britain's entry into the Euro. She went on to serve on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. As a member of that committee she travelled to Kenya, Uganda, China, Hong Kong and many countries in Europe. She took a particular interest in human rights. Most recently she has set up a special parliamentary committee investigating gun crime.