TMP Online

Presently ensconced in New York, TMP’s new columnist, Lola Adesioye, argues that we need Black British leaders in the Jesse Jackson mould.

Jesse Jackson has recently been in the UK talking to African-Caribbeans across the country… Hundreds, if not thousands, of people of colour have come out to listen to Mr Jackson’s encouraging and empowering words. He has energetically and enthusiastically urged black Britons to raise self-esteem and self-knowledge, to focus on achieving equality within British society and to overcome problems such as educational failure and low expectations. Words, which according to the government’s recent REACH report and the intense media spotlight on so-called ‘black on black’ crime, are currently vital and long overdue.

The US is well known for powerful African-American social and political figures such as Reverend Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Media moguls such as Russell Simmons and Oprah Winfrey can also be added to the list. Not only are these people respected within the upper echelons of society but they are listened to by the masses. Therein lies their power. That potent combination has enabled them to galvanize black people when necessary, as well as represent black interests to the outside world by providing coherent, intelligent and unified voices.

I sincerely believe that black Britons would benefit from British versions of such figureheads. Black Britons need people who are inspirational not only as a result of their wealth or celebrity status (e.g. athletes and entertainers), but because they are able to provide positive, uplifting messages, as well as put across credible arguments and discussions in areas in which black voices may not otherwise be heard. These people become both role models and representatives.

It is not enough to sit on committees and speak to government ministers, as important as that is. In order to be truly effective, any such leader must also be in close contact with the community, have its respect and be able to stimulate the people. In the UK, there is nobody I can think of whose influence cuts across society, from top to bottom, in that way.

Why is that the case? I would argue that in the UK, once people of colour reach a certain level of success - especially in traditional fields such as finance, law or politics - they move in circles in which they may be one of a handful of black people, all of whom will be educated, and well-to-do. It is easy to become separate or distanced from the needs or interests of regular, working-class black people - particularly those who face the most serious problems - when you do not have to deal with them in your every day life. Even Nelson Mandela, in a recent plea to black leaders, has urged successful black people to be aware of becoming cut off from those less fortunate.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today, former minister for Europe, Keith Vaz MP, as called on the government to hold a referendum on the new EU Reform - you can listen to him here.  However, Labour Movement for Europe Executive Committee Member, Owais Rajput (pictured right with Gary Titley MEP), argues against below. 

Why must Britain vote on the new EU Treaty? There are dozens of subjects in which public interest in a referendum would be far greater than on obscure tinkering with the EU institutions. Restoring the link between pensions and wages, university top up fees, aspects of immigration, the death penalty and whether to host the Olympic games all spring to mind.

Calls for a referendum on the EU question do not represent a broad based wave of support for deciding matters by referenda, it is merely an opportunist move by the Eurosceptics in their single issue campaign on a subject the general public are not interested in.

Read the rest of this entry »

Writing in today’s New Statesman, TMP editor Chuka Umunna, reflects on New Nation’s Power List and the need for the role models of today to step forward and inspire.

In three and a half years working for a corporate law firm in the City, I often worked ungodly hours, bleary-eyed, on big-money transactions for many of the private equity houses that have become persona non grata of late. Not once did I hear the name of Damon Buffini.

But early this year, the GMB trade union waged an extremely effective campaign against the private equity sector and made Buffini, as managing partner of the equity giant Permira, its focus. It even parked a camel outside the church Buffini attends, to “highlight the quote from the Bible about a camel going through the eye of a needle”. So successful was it that the likes of the Daily Mail came out in support - unusual bedfellows indeed.

While I share the reservations about private equity’s penchant for playing hard and fast with people’s jobs, I was genuinely delighted to discover Buffini - a man who looks like me and has a mixed-race background to similar to mine - sitting atop the private equity pile.

Here is a man who came from a council estate in Leicester, and became not only the Thierry Henry of his industry sector, but also arguably the richest man of black parentage in this country. What a shame that he has come to prominence in the context of a public row about corporate greed.

After the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, there has been a plethora of interviews with former gang members who grew up in circumstances similar to Buffini’s. Predictably, many have sought a career in music as a route out of the gangs and the council estates.

Read the rest of this entry »

On this day, 39 years ago, the U.S civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, gave us the extraordinary oratory which was his “I have a dream” speech.  King had organised a mass march on Washington DC and gave this speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial.  Today TMP publishes the speech below in full in his memory.  You can watch the speech on YouTube here.

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to Yasmin Qureshi, who was selected as Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) in Bolton South East last night. Yasmin beat off strong local competition from the CLP Chair and others, including Bolton Cllr Akhtar Zaman. Her selection is significant as she is the first ethnic minority PPC to be selected in a safe Labour seat - the constituency has a notional Labour majority of 12,652.  If elected she will become Britain’s first female, Pakistani MP.

Qureshi is a Barrister at 2 King’s Bench Walk chambers and human rights advisor to London Mayor, Ken Livingstone. She has worked for the Government Legal Services and the Crown Prosecution Service and was the Head of the Criminal Legal Section of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) for some time. She contested Brent East in 2005.

All eyes will now switch to Cllr Alison Lowe in Leeds West, who is standing to become Labour’s PPC there and was shortlisted last week.  Lowe has represented Armley, part of the constituency, for 17 years, having taken the seat from the Liberal Democrats in 1990. She is Chief Executive of a medium-sized Leeds based charity called Touchstone.  Labour has a 12,810 majority in Leeds West.  The hustings is on 14 September 2007. 

Labour officials will be watching the selection closely, not least because - if selected - Lowe will become the first ethnic minority woman to have successfully stood where there is an all women shortlist.

For all the talk of the need for more black role models, the New Nation newspaper has provided us with a booklet of them in their Power List 2007, published today. The list celebrates Britain’s 50 most influential black men and 50 most influential black women and TMP (to which some of those on the list have contributed) salutes and celebrates their success. Interestingly, only two sportspeople and no musicians feature in the top ten list for each gender.

Top Women
1. Baroness Scotland, Attorney general (right)
2. Baroness Amos, Labour peer (right)
3. Heather Rabbatts, Executive chair, Millwall Holdings plc
4. Naomi Campbell, Model
5. Clare Ighodaro, Non-executive director, Banking Code Standards Board
6. Baroness Howells, Labour Peer
7. Tandy Anderson, Co-founder/CEO, Select Models
8. Carol Lake, Managing Director and Co-head, Marketing, JP Morgan
9. Michelle Ogundehin, Editor, Elle Decoration
10. Sonita Alleyne, Director, Somethin’ Else

Top Men
1. Damon Buffini, Managing partner, Permira (left)
2. Mo Ibrahim, Chairman of Celtel International/Mo Ibrahim Foundation (left)
3. Michael Prest, Physical oil trader
4. Trevor Faure, Vice-president & general counsel, Tyco International
5. Tidjane Thiam, Group executive director, Aviva Europe
6. Trevor Faure, Vice President and General Counsel, Tate & Lyle
7. Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York
8. Team Hamilton (Lewis & Anthony)
9. David Lammy MP, Skills Minister (left)
10. Lee Jasper, Director of Equalities & Policing, GLA

For an overview of the list, read this feature article in yesterday’s Observer by Michael Eboda, Editor in Chief of the New Nation – “The real black power list of 100 leading role models”.

Guardian columnist and feature writer, Hannah Pool (right), reflects on Naomi Campbell’s recent comments about racism in the fashion industry.

“Black models are being sidelined by major modelling agencies. It’s a pity that people don’t appreciate black beauty,” said Naomi Campell to Kenyan local press earlier this week, while on holiday in the resort of Malindi. “Even myself, I get a raw deal from my own country in England. For example, I hardly come on the front pages of the London Vogue magazine. Only white models, some of whom are not as prominent as I am, are put on splash pages. I don’t want to quit modelling until I find that black models get equal prominence and recognition by the world media,” she went on. Campbell, who first graced the covers of British Vogue in 1987, went on to say that she is thinking of opening her own modelling agency in Kenya, in an attempt to redress the balance.

Campbell is, of course, not saying anything new - “Racism in fashion industry” is about as surprising a headline as “Pete Doherty arrested”. But, while she certainly hasn’t done herself any favours on the likeability front, if there is one thing Campbell is to be congratulated for, it is the fact that throughout her career she has never shied away from talking about racism within the fashion industry.

Given how small the fashion world is, and how much it trades on favouritism, this is pretty ballsy of her. Every time she opens her mouth, it seems, Campbell is more or less calling her employer a racist.

“There is prejudice. It is a problem and I can’t go along any more with brushing it under the carpet. This business is about selling, and blonde and blue-eyed girls are what sells,” said Streatham’s most famous export as far back as 1997. Saying this sort of stuff takes guts, no matter who you are; she’s not so much biting the hand that feeds, as ripping it off at the arm.

So, how does Campbell’s Vogue-cover tally compare with that of her peers? Well, she has appeared on a total of eight Vogue covers, which is approximately eight more than you or I, but notably less than Kate Moss (who has clocked a whopping 24).

Read the rest of this entry »

TMP editor, Chuka Umunna, delves into the party of David, John and Boris. 

According to David Cameron, some or all of us are living in anarchy. Yesterday, on the Today Programme, he said that “we are not going to deal with anarchy in the UK unless [we] actually strengthen families and communities.” When asked, he did not clarify how widespread anarchy was, nor did he tell us which towns and cities to avoid. But according to Cameron, some place, somewhere, anarchy reigns in Britain today. I agree – it is staring him right in the face, in his own party.

The Tory disarray we have seen this summer is born of sheer panic. Cameron and his team pursued a strategy designed to present the Tory leader as Tony Blair’s heir apparent. Indeed, during a dinner with newspaper executives on the eve of his famous 2005 speech to the Conservative Party conference, he reportedly said that he was the true “heir to Blair”. What he and his team did not bargain on was that the great British public would tire of Blair and his brand of political showbiz. As Matthew Parris correctly stated earlier this month, now Blair has gone, the public are not pining for him but seem to want something altogether different.

It would appear that most people are satisfied that Gordon Brown is providing the change in style and substance they seek, which has led to unexpectedly good poll leads, the most recent being the Sunday Times/YouGov poll, giving Labour a 10 point lead and for Brown, strong personal ratings. Few have found fault, be it in Brown’s dealings with Bush, or his handling of the various challenges which have arisen.

So what has been the Conservative reaction? First, get Boris to run for Mayor. On 16 July, Boris Johnson arrived with a media scrum and bicycle at City Hall to announce his candidacy to run for Mayor of London. In his 2005 conference speech, Cameron claimed that he wanted to fight for a “modern, compassionate Conservatism” but Johnson represents anything but. Myself, Doreen Lawrence and others have been accused of “introducing some ludicrous (and highly dangerous) racial divide” into the London Mayoral contest, by daring to question Johnson’s use of certain language in relation to Black people. But, putting his utterances in that regard to one side, Boris has been plugging an unashamedly right wing mantra for years, as Compass has shown today.

Read the rest of this entry »

The candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 2008 U.S Presidential Election have been debating the issues in Iowa. It is in Iowa that the first major test in the Democrats’ nomination process will take place with the caucus there in January 2008. Yesterday’s debate was chaired by former White House communications chief, George Stephanopoulos, who served under President Bill Clinton.  During the debate Sen. Barack Obama’s experience came under scrutiny. To watch the debate – click here.  To read the Washington Post’s report on the debate, click here.

It is 60 years to the day that India gained its independence from Britain. India later became a republic in 1950. India is the seventh biggest and second most populous country and, with China, is now regarded as an emerging economic super power. Many congratulations and best wishes to all TMP’s Indian readers!