ABBOTT, Diane
Diane Julie Abbott is a British Labour Party member of parliament. She was the first black woman ever elected to the House of Commons and remained the only one until she was joined in 1997 by Oona King (who lost her seat in the general election of 2005). Born on 27 September 1953 of Jamaican parents in Paddington, London, she was educated at Harrow County Grammar School before emerging with an MA in History from Cambridge University. A journalist by profession, she worked as an administrative trainee with the Home Office; Race Relations Officer with the National Council for Civil Liberties; a researcher and reporter with TV AM and Thames Television; Public relations Officer with the Greater London Council and Head of Lambeth Council's Press Office. Her political career began in 1982 when she was elected to the Westminster City Council, one of the first black women councilors in the United Kingdom. Five years later she was elected to the House of Commons as MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington. Active for many years in the trades’ union movement, particularly on race equality issues, Ms. Abbott served briefly as Britain's first black female officer in the Association of Cinematographers Television and Allied Technicians. A. committed social and political activist, she was a founder member of the Black Media Workers’ Organization, a keen supporter of the Organization of Women of African and Asian Decent (OWAAD) and president of Black Women Mean Business.