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.
From the outset of her career, Diane has championed global justice, human rights, peace and security issues at home and abroad. She has been a vocal campaigner around race-relations, transparency and justice around policing, surveillance, Stop and Search, and detainment without trial.
She was elected on to the National Executive of the Labour Party and, for most of the 1990s, served on the Treasury Select Committee. As a member of this committee she helped author a series of official reports around issues including Britain’s entry into the Euro. She went on to serve on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee as Shadow Public Health Minister.
In 2015, Diane was re-elected to her Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency with a landslide majority and, in September 2015, was appointed Shadow Secretary for International Development. Diane became Shadow Secretary for Health in June 2016 before serving as the first black female Shadow Home Secretary until earlier this year. Diane also Chairs the British-Caribbean All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and the APPG for Sickle Cell and Thalassemia.
You can watch her debating intersectionality theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw and former Conservative leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch in the HowTheLightGetsIn debate Who We Are: Beyond Black and White here.