Chuka Umunna facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Chuka Umunna
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Official portrait, 2017
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| Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills | |
| In office 7 October 2011 – 13 September 2015 |
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| Leader |
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| Preceded by | John Denham |
| Succeeded by | Angela Eagle |
| Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 10 October 2010 – 23 May 2011 Serving with Anne McGuire
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| Leader | Ed Miliband |
| Preceded by | Desmond Swayne |
| Succeeded by | Michael Dugher |
| Member of Parliament for Streatham |
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| In office 6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019 |
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| Preceded by | Keith Hill |
| Succeeded by | Bell Ribeiro-Addy |
| Change UK portfolios | |
| 2019 | Group Spokesperson |
| 2019 | Cabinet Office |
| Liberal Democrat portfolios | |
| 2019 | Business and Industrial Strategy |
| 2019 | HM Treasury |
| 2019 | International Development |
| 2019 | International Trade |
| 2019 | Foreign and Commonwealth Office |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Chuka Harrison Umunna
17 October 1978 Lambeth, London, England |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats (since 2019; before 1997) |
| Other political affiliations |
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| Spouse |
Alice Sullivan
(m. 2016) |
| Relations | Sir Helenus Milmo (grandfather) |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater |
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Chuka Harrison Umunna (born 17 October 1978) is a British businessman and former politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the London area of Streatham from 2010 to 2019. An MP's job is to represent the people of their local area, called a constituency, in the House of Commons.
Umunna was first a member of the Labour Party. He was part of the Shadow Cabinet, which is the team of senior spokespeople for the main opposition party. In February 2019, he and six other MPs left Labour to form a new group called The Independent Group, later known as Change UK.
Later that year, he left Change UK and joined the Liberal Democrats. He lost his seat in the 2019 general election and is no longer an MP. He now works in business.
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Early Life and Education
Chuka Umunna was born in Lambeth, south London, on 17 October 1978. His father, Bennett, was a Nigerian businessman from the Igbo ethnic group. He died in a car accident in Nigeria in 1992. His mother, Patricia, is a solicitor of English-Irish background.
Umunna went to Hitherfield Primary School and Christ Church Primary School. He later attended St Dunstan's College, an independent school in south-east London. There, he played the cello and was a chorister at Southwark Cathedral.
He studied English and French Law at the University of Manchester. After graduating, he studied for a short time at the University of Burgundy in France. He then earned a Master of Arts degree from Nottingham Trent University's law school.
Career Before Politics
After university, Umunna started working as a solicitor, which is a type of lawyer. He worked for law firms in the City of London, including Herbert Smith and Rochman Landau. He specialised in employment law, which deals with the rights of workers.
From 2006, he began writing about politics and social issues for newspapers and magazines like the Financial Times and The Guardian. He also appeared on TV and radio to share his views. He founded an online political magazine called The Multicultural Politic.
Political Career
Becoming a Member of Parliament
In 2008, the Labour Party chose Umunna to be their candidate for the Streatham constituency. In the 2010 general election, he was elected as the MP for Streatham.
In Parliament, he was interested in the economy and how to improve the banking industry. He was a member of the Treasury Select Committee, a group of MPs that checks the government's financial plans.
In 2010, he supported Ed Miliband to become the new leader of the Labour Party.
Role in the Shadow Cabinet
In October 2010, Umunna became a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Labour leader, Ed Miliband. This is a role where an MP helps a senior party leader. In May 2011, he was promoted to Shadow Minister for Small Business.
On 7 October 2011, he was promoted again to the Shadow Cabinet as the Shadow Business Secretary. This meant he was Labour's main spokesperson on business issues. He challenged the government on its policies and held them to account.
For example, in 2013, he argued that the government sold the Royal Mail for too low a price during its privatisation. Privatisation is when a government-owned company is sold to private owners.
Umunna is a member of Labour Friends of Israel. In 2012, he visited Israel to learn more about its economy.
Leaving the Labour Party
After Labour lost the 2015 election, Ed Miliband resigned as leader. Umunna announced he would run to be the new leader. However, just three days later, he withdrew from the race. He said he was not comfortable with the extra public attention that came with being a leadership candidate.
Jeremy Corbyn was elected as the new Labour leader. Umunna disagreed with Corbyn on some issues, especially on Brexit. Because of these disagreements, he resigned from the Shadow Cabinet and became a "backbencher". A backbencher is an MP who does not have a senior role in their party's leadership team.
Umunna had supported the UK remaining in the European Union in the 2016 Brexit referendum. He later campaigned for a second referendum on the final Brexit deal.
Change UK and the Liberal Democrats
On 18 February 2019, Umunna and six other Labour MPs quit their party. They formed a new group called The Independent Group, which was later renamed Change UK. They left because they were unhappy with Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and his position on Brexit. Umunna became the group's spokesperson.
Change UK did not perform well in the 2019 European elections. After these poor results, Umunna left the party in June 2019.
A week later, on 13 June 2019, Umunna announced he was joining the Liberal Democrats. He said he was wrong to think a brand new party could succeed easily. He became the Liberal Democrats' spokesperson for the Treasury, Business, and Foreign Affairs.
In the 2019 general election, Umunna did not stand for re-election in his old Streatham constituency. Instead, he stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Cities of London and Westminster. He lost the election to the Conservative candidate, Nickie Aiken, and was no longer an MP.
Career After Politics
After leaving politics, Umunna returned to the business world. In 2021, he joined the investment bank JPMorgan Chase. He became a Managing Director and head of its ESG team in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. This part of the bank advises companies on how to be more responsible. This includes caring for the environment, treating people fairly, and having good leadership. In July 2024, he was promoted to a global leadership role in this area.
Personal Life
In 2016, Umunna married Alice Sullivan, who is also a lawyer. The couple has three daughters, born in 2017, 2020, and 2024.
He is a fan of the Crystal Palace F.C. football team. He has said that his moral values come from Christianity, but he is not very religious. In 2015, New African magazine named him one of the 100 most influential Africans.
