becoming the first black Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Born in
London in 1978, Chuka was bred in the UK. His late father, Bennett,
hailed from Anambra State while his Irish mother, Patricia, is a
solicitor.
Co-incidentally, Chuka shares startling similarities with the United
States President, Barack Obama, who is the first black President of
the world's most powerful nation.
For instance, Chuka is of mixed race, being the child of a Nigerian
father and an Irish mother while Obama is also of mixed race, being
the offspring of a white American woman and a Kenyan father. Also
Chuka's father, Bennett, was killed in a mysterious car accident in
Nigeria in 1992 while Obama's father was killed in a car accident in
Kenya in 1982.
If history repeats itself as it is being predicted by British
political observers, Chuka, who is also a six-foot tall lawyer like
Obama, could become the first black Prime Minister in the UK.
Chuka's life story is perhaps a better guide to his future political
direction. It is the story of a rise from the streets of South London
(scene of some of Britain's worse race riots in the 1980s) to the
parliament. But it is not the story that some might expect.
His father, Bennett, was a Nigerian labourer, who arrived in Britain
in the sixties with one suitcase and no money. Having borrowed the
fare from Liverpool to London, he worked in a carwash, became a
successful businessman and died in a car crash when his son was 13.
Bennett began an import-export business trading with Nigeria and was
starting to make a decent living when he met Patricia Milmo, a
solicitor, at a London party. She happened to be the daughter of Sir
Helenus Milmo, a Cambridge-educated High Court judge and a prosecutor
at the Nuremberg Nazi trials. They later got married, a rare
combination during a time of high social inequality and racism.
Chuka believed his father was killed because he refused to indulge in
corrupt practices when he was running for the governorship of Anambra
State during the administration of former military dictator, General
Ibrahim Babangida (retd.).
Bennett died after his car ran into a lorry carrying logs along the
Onitsha-Owerri highway in Anambra. Bennett had been splitting his time
between London and Nigeria - where he unsuccessfully ran for the
governorship of Anambra State and had taken a stand against bribery.
At a point Bennett was also the owner of the Rangers International
Football Club of Enugu, the darling of the Igbo people.
When quizzed about his father on Sky News, he had this to say: "There
was a lot of speculation in Nigeria at the time around his death. He
was a national political figure standing on an anti-corruption ticket
and refused to bribe anybody.
"We don't really talk about it because it is not going to bring him
back but I think he would be bowled over that his son is now a
politician just like him."
Chuka, an English and French Law graduate from the University of
Manchester, who also holds a Master's degree from Nottingham Law
School, says his interest in politics was shaped by seeing extreme
poverty while visiting his father's relatives in Nigeria and the
social divide in his own Streatham constituency in the UK. He says
that he is "not super-religious" but that his soft-left values are
"rooted in my Christianity."
The 35-year-old Labour Party Member of Parliament, however, has two
hurdles to cross if he is to make history in the UK. This is because
in the UK, for one to become the Prime Minister, the person must first
be a Member of Parliament, the person's party must win majority of
seats out of the 560 seats in the House of Commons during the
parliamentary elections and the person must be the leader of his
party.
Presently, Chuka is the Member of Parliament for Streatham, a position
he has held since 2010 but must re-contest in 2015 and win to retain
the seat.
He is also the Shadow Business Secretary, a position held by a member
of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. The duty of the office holder is to
scrutinise the actions of the government's Secretary of State for
Business, Innovation and Skills and develop alternative policies. The
office holder is a member of the Shadow Cabinet.
According to the UK Telegraph, Chuka is rumoured to have the strong
support of a former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who was also a
Labour Party leader.
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ReplyDeleteAccording to the British newspaper, when asked if he was Blair’s anointed candidate, Chuka said, “I really don’t know anything about that.” However, when he was pressed further whether he aspired to head his party, he said, “I don’t entertain any discussion beyond winning the election next year. That would be completely hypocritical of me. To start thinking about hypothetical scenarios would be totally indulgent. All my energy is focused on winning the election, and so should everyone’s. It will be very close.”
Chuka is one of the youngest MPs in the UK having been introduced into British politics by the current Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, while he was in his 20s.
It was Milband that helped him become an MP and later made him his Parliamentary Private Secretary before he was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet in October 2011. He is tipped to become Miliband’s successor and could become the Prime Minister should the Labour Party win next year’s election.
Chuka, however, claims to hate the comparison of him and Obama which he terms the “construct of lazy journalists.” He sharply divides opinion in British politics. Good-looking, articulate, new-media-savvy and a good orator.
According to FT Magazine, he is not universally popular among his own colleagues, who see more style than substance. “He just has a knack of alienating people,” said one experienced Labour MP. “He is probably the most natural communicator I’ve seen since Tony Blair. The problem is that each week he has fewer supporters than he did at the start of the week.”
Even potential allies recount stories of apparent slights or snubs. A senior party figure says, “Chuka has put people’s backs up. They feel he is inaccessible.” Another long-serving MP adds, “The idea of learning the trade first is only for mere mortals, not for him.” Peter Mandelson, the former Labour business secretary who played a key role in Blair’s rise through to the top, thinks the explanation for this is quite simple, “Envy plays a big part in politics,” he says.
Like Blair, Chuka sometimes connects better with those beyond his own circle. John Cridland, head of the CBI employers’ group, calls him “a guy with whom we can do business.” Andrew Tyrie, Tory Chair of the Commons Treasury Committee, say: “He’s extremely talented and charming.” Andrew Adonis, a former Labour minister, sums up his cross-party appeal: “The best politicians are those who look outwards not inwards.”
However, allies of the current British PM, David Cameron, scoffed at the idea that Chuka might represent a threat to Cameron’s second term bid.
“I can’t think of any issue where he’s put us under pressure,” says one close friend of the prime minister. “He’s pretty average – he’s a slick corporate lawyer.”
Also, among his fellow party members, Chuka’s lack of political definition is another source of irritation as some claim they struggle to work out what he really believes in. But Chuka says people should show a bit more patience. “It would be rather unhealthy if after just three years in parliament I was setting out some blueprint for my country,” he says. “What do people expect?”
But some see him as the potential leader of a mainstream 21st-Century Labour party with the kind of crossover appeal of Blair’s New Labour. Despite initial reservations that Chuka might be a bit too left-wing, Blair has started seeing him regularly. “Chuka strikes Tony as very smart,” says one close ally of the former PM. “Business is a particularly important brief in tough economic times and Chuka seems to be rising to the challenge.”
As if Blair’s blessing was not enough, Chuka recalls the “honour” of spending “a small bit of private time with former US President, Bill Clinton, who he describes as one of his political heroes. “I think he defies the left-right description,” Mandelson says in approbation. “He’s part of a generation that transcends those labels.”
He has also recently been to Europe to meet his friend, the French PM, Manuel Valls.