25th ANNIVERSARY JUNE 1987 - JUNE 2012
A Great Moment for Britain SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
We celebrate the election of the four black MPs, pictured right. Below is a unique image of current black and minority ethnic members of the Houses of Parliament.
BLACK MPS SUPPLEMENT
24 THE VOICE JUNE 14 - 20, 2012
Election of four black
CELEBRATION: Bernie Grant, Paul Boateng, Neil Kinnock, Labour leader, Keith Vaz and Diane Abbott By Marc Wadsworth
“B
RENT SOUTH today, Soweto t o m o r r o w, ” Paul Boateng had declared after being elected to parliament in 1987. He was one of the four black tribunes who made history by entering the previously all-white House of Commons. Boateng, whose father was a Ghanaian politician, went on to become British ambassador to South Africa, where Soweto was the most renowned black township during the time of the racist apartheid regime that
“ Election literally changed the face of British politics
”
ruled the country. The election of Boateng along with Diane Abbott, Bernie Grant and Keith Vaz 25 years ago quite literally changed the face of politics in Britain. They blazed a path for other African Caribbean and Asian politicians to follow in the Houses of Parliament, which now boasts 27 MPs of colour. If peers are included, the number is 76. So, how was it possible for the four hopefuls to become the first black and minority ethnic MPs since Indian-born communist Shapurji Saklatvala, who lost his Battersea North seat in London in 1929? The answer is partly to be found in the inner city “uprisings” against police harassment of black youth; something all four black MPs acknowledged. Abbott said: “Let’s not forget that it was Black youth who hit the streets in Brixton, Toxteth and Bristol and forced British society to confront racism and social exclusion.”
She added: “So, first and foremost, it was the urban insurrection of the early 1980s that created the politics which enabled me to be an MP.” The answer to how the four law makers broke throughground can be traced to their membership of the Labour Party, to which more than two thirds of black and minority ethnic people gave their vote. It was where black, particularly middleclass professionals, got organised as activists. All of the four MPs attended university, while Boateng and Vaz were lawyers Abbott, a journalist and Grant a trade union official. They were prominent among black activists who decided that self-organising, rather than continuing to rely on the patronage of the white Labour leadership was the best way to become an MP. That is how the famed Labour Party Black Sections was founded in 1983. Yet,
“ Toothe often foot soldiers of a movement are forgotten
”
too often the foot soldiers are forgotten when, as American academic Manning Marable once commented: “Movements create leaders, leaders don’t create movements.” The black sections’ first chair was a deputy head teacher Russell Profitt, a Lewisham, south east London, councillor. Despite attempts at getting selected as a candidate in Lewisham and Battersea, Profitt was unsuccessful in his bid to get into parliament. Radical black critics of the Black Sections, like Darcus Howe and A. Sivanandan, considered that the campaign MILESTONE: How The Voice reported the event in was irrelevant to the struggle 1997
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tribunes made history of the working class. They claimed it was run by selfinterested careerists. Profitt, countered with the argument, “In retrospect, of course we could have achieved more – as armchair revolutionaries will always say! But, given where we were when we began (no Black Parliamentarians) and where we are now (several across the party spectrum) I believe we had a powerful, positive and hopefully lasting impact in transforming both the policy context and the face of British politics”, he wrote in the Labour Party Black Sections publication commemorating the 25th anniversary of the movement. It must be noted that, in the early 1980s, for many activists “black” was a political term that embraced African Caribbeans and Asians and anyone else who faced racism as a result of the colour of their skin. Grenadian David Pitt, who went on to become the first black chair of the Greater London Council, lost the safe Labour seat of
Norman Atkinson, an influential trade unionist and former treasurer of the Labour Party, who was its ageing MP. But fortunately Grant changed his mind and defeated Atkinson in a reselection contest. Who can forget the memorable sight of Grant turning up to the state opening of parliament in the robes of an African chief, a garlanded Boateng giving his victory speech or the four seated together at Labour Party conference? But, was their impact: symbolic “black faces in high places” or deeper than that? We asked the public the question for this publication and they give their views later. Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning Voice editorial comment of June 1987:
Black was a “political term that embraced African Caribbeans and Asians
”
Clapham, south London, which he fought in 1970. This allegedly frightened off white party leaders from choosing a black parliamentary candidate after that. Paul Boateng lost the winnable for Labour seat of Hertfordhsire West, which included Hemel Hempstead ,in 1983 and Keith Vaz failed to get elected the same year in Richmond. Bernie Grant and Diane Abbott kept their powder dry to giant kill by deselecting sitting Labour MPs in Tottenham, north London, and Hackney North and Stoke Newington, in east London,
CONFERENCE: Lee Jasper speaks at the 1988 Black Sections annual meeting in Liverpool.
four years later. I remember Grant, then a Haringey council leader, complaining to me that his locality of Tottenham had been put on the Black
Sections’ head-line grabbing “black list” of seats around the country where we believed there should be black MPs. He was concerned that the move upset
“We call it (the election of the four black MPs) a partial and symbolic liberation because we do not really expect Messrs Bernie Grant, Paul Boateng, Keith Vaz and Diane Abbott to change single-handedly some of the deep-seated features of a system that discriminates against us.” It added, ticking off the MPs with the firm words: “The same calculations which caused them to retreat over their support of fellow colleague, Sharon Atkin (stripped by Labour leaders of her candidature for speaking out) have not disappeared overnight.” Prophetically, The Voice said: “We hope they don’t disappoint us.” • Marc Wadsworth was chair of the Labour Party Black Sections 1986-88.
WHAT THE PAPERS SAID “Black MPs Get the Vote” – The Times “Victory for Labour’s Black Sections” – New Statesman “A new era” – The Voice
Special salutation from Roger McKenzie Assistant General Secretary of UNISON: delighted to recognise “theI amcontribution made by the
pioneering black MPs who entered parliament in 1987. The significance of their election should never be underestimated. It paved the way for much greater black representation in the political, trade union and across public life. As a black trade unionist in a senior position I am all too aware of the responsibility that I have to make sure that the ladder for others coming through is strong and reaches all the way to the top. These four black pioneers helped to build the ladder and for that we should all be eternally grateful .
”
Diane, Keith, Paul and in memory of Bernie, congratulations on 25 years, of unswerving service to working people, from UNISON the public service union
UNISON is the UK’s largest public service union and represents more than 1.3 million people providing vital services to the public. Membership starts from just 28 pence a week and gives you access to a whole range of benefits, from free legal and welfare advice to discounts on insurance and grants for workplace training. To find out more or join UNISON, call 0845 355 0845 or go to unison.org.uk/join
BLACK MPS SUPPLEMENT
26 THE VOICE JUNE 14 - 20, 2012
Timeline: Black politi
HAPPY: Britain’s first black woman MP Diane Abbott.
ROBES: The late Bernie Grant at the State Opening of Parliament.
T
he Voice has been able to use its unique position as Britain’s Black weekly newspaper to do this commemorative tribute, compiled by Marc Wadsworth and Trudy Simpson. It is a special eight-page tribute that we hope you will be proud to keep as a collector’s item. 1906: John Archer (Battersea, south London) and Henry Sylvester Williams. Marylebone, north London) become first Black councillors. 1913: John Archer becomes first Black mayor. 1970: David Pitt loses ‘safe’ Labour seat of Clapham south London. 1974: David Pitt becomes first Black chair of the Greater
London Council. 1978: Trevor Phillips elected first Black National Union of Students President. He went on to serve as a Labour member of the Greater London Assembly in 2000 and its chair until 2003. 1983: Labour Party Black Sections formed in London and Diane Abbott is a founding member of its steering committee
“ Labour Party
Black Sections setup
”
DEFEAT: Victor the anti-war MP George Galloway shakes the hand of Oona King after she lost her seat.
Dawn
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olitical representation
st her seat.
Eighteen Black and minority ethnic candidates stand for parliament. None win. 1985: Bernie Grant voted in as first Black council leader, after Archer, in Haringey, north London. Lewisham Council deputy leader Russell Profitt selected to be Labour’s choice to fight the winnable Lewisham East seat. But, because unofficial Black sections delegates took part, he was not endorsed and then replaced as the candidate. 1986: Merle Amory in Brent, north London and Linda Bellos,
Dawn Butler, who followed Paul Boateng as the Brent South MP.
Lambeth, south London, become first Black women council leaders. 1987: Twenty-eight BME candidates stand for parliament. Four of them are elected. Black Sections chair Sharon Atkin selected then deselected as Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Nottingham East. 1988: Black Sections publish its Black Agenda policy document. Diane Abbott, Bernie Grant and David Pitt form Parliamentary Black Caucus. Paul Boateng declines to join, saying he is “not monochrome”. 1989: Notorious Vauxhall by-election. Party’s local choice of Martha Osamor is rejected by Labour leaders Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley. Kate Hoey becomes the MP. 1990: Black Sections claim victory when Labour agrees to set up Black Socialist Society with a seat on the party’s ruling executive. 1991: Bernie Grant announces the Parliamentary Black Caucus is no more. Broad-based Black-led AntiRacist Alliance formed. It helped set up the Justice for Stephen Lawrence campaign with Doreen and Neville Lawrence. Gets parts of its “racial harassment bill” introduced in parliament and changes the law. 1992: Bill Morris becomes first Black trade union general secretary. John Taylor was unsuccessful in his bid to become the Conservative Party’s first African Caribbean MP when he stands in Cheltenham where a leading member of his local party called him ‘a nigger”. 1996: Operation Black Vote launched. 1997: Oona King becomes second Black woman MP when she is elected in Bethnal Green and Bow, east London. She is defeated by Respect candidate George Galloway in 2005. 2000: David Lammy elected to the Greater London Assembly. Bernie Grant dies.
David Lammy elected MP for Tottenham, north London, in a by-election. He rises to become a government minister and Privy Councillor. 2002: Paul Boateng becomes first Black cabinet minister. 2003: Valerie Amos becomes first Black woman member of the cabinet. She is the first Black leader of the House of Lords. 2005: Paul Boateng resigns his Brent South, north London, seat to become Britain’s High Commissioner to South Africa. Dawn Butler wins the byelection to become the third Black woman MP. Butler is appointed a government whip and becomes the first Black woman to speak from the dispatch box in parliament. She is defeated by Liberal Democrat Sarah Teather in 2010 when two seats are merged into one.
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Helen Grant becomes Britain's first black Conservative woman MP
”
Barack Obama becomes sole black US senator of the 100member upper house. Adam Afriye becomes the first politician of African descent to become a Conservative MP when he is elected in Windsor. Indian lawyer Mancherjee Bhownagree was elected Conservative MP for North East Bethnal Green, east
“Parliamentary Black Caucus founded ”
London, in 1895. Operation Black Vote launches its Black Manifesto for the general election. 2007: Patricia Scotland QC becomes the first woman and first Black Attorney General. 2008: 25th anniversary of Labour Party Black Sections celebrations attended by cabinet minister Hazel Blears and party chair Tony Lloyd MP. Jennette Arnold becomes chair of the Greater London Assembly, a post she still holds. 2009: Barack Obama elected first Black American president. Cllr Yvonne Mosquito loses out to Shabana Mahmood in Labour selection for a prospective parliamentary candidate to replace veteran Clare Short MP. 2010: Diane Abbott, David Lammy and Keith Vaz are reelected. They are joined by Chuka Ummuna, Streatham, south London, and Chi Onwurah, Newcastle, and Helen Grant, becomes Britain's first black Conservative woman MP, when she is elected to represent Maidstone and The Weald, in Kent. In total, 27 BME parliamentary candidates become MPs. 2012: Cllr Patrick Vernon is unsuccessful in bid to become prospective Labour candidate for the safe seat of Manchester Central. 25th anniversary of the election of the four Black MPs.
Message of Support
ED MILIBAND - LABOUR PARTY LEADER The election of Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng, Bernie Grant and Keith Vaz as Labour MPs was both a symbol of progress and also showed how my party has always been at the forefront of the fight against discrimination. The country has come a long way since then in terms of opportunities, policing and discrimination. But we still have a long way to go. Hundreds of thousands of people will be encouraged and inspired to vote or even stand for election because they see people like David Lammy or Diane Abbott in parliament.