Chuka Umanna MP for Streatham was recently promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Business Secretary on 7 October 2011, replacing John Denham, who announced his retirement from front-bench politics he leads on small business issues, business support and access to finance, corporate governance, deregulation and economic growth. This appointment is a sign of his growing pedigree in British politics and how just how highly Labour leader Ed Milliband regards him. He has plenty of admirers within the party too.
For a man from a working class background to rise to these ranks in a profession full of white middle-class privately educated men will inspire many. Chuka as you may be able to tell from his name is a from Nigerian heritage, has a Nigerian father and an English-Irish mother. He was educated at Hitherfield Primary School in Streatham, south London, at the voluntary aided Christ Church C of E Primary School (Cotherstone Road) in the Brixton Hill area of Streatham.
He was elected as Member of Parliament for Streatham in May 2010, becoming the first MP for the constituency to have grown up in the area (No expenses scandal here then!)
As The Observer's January 2009 Hotlist edition predicted, Chuka is set to make a mark over the coming years.
Find out more about Chucka at his official website; www.chuka.org.uk/
Mr Chuka Umanna, C.R.E.A.T.I.V salutes you!
Ben