Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
In office 7 October 2011 – 13 September 2015
Leader
Ed Miliband
Harriet Harman (acting)
Jeremy Corbyn
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
Leader
Ed Miliband
Preceded by
Desmond Swayne
Succeeded by
Michael Dugher
Member of Parliament for Streatham
In office 6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019
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
(1978-10-17) 17 October 1978 (age 45) Lambeth, London, England
Political party
Liberal Democrats (since 2019; before 1997)
Other political affiliations
Independent (2019)
Change UK (2019)
Labour (1997–2019)
Spouse
Alice Sullivan
(m. 2016)
Relations
Sir Helenus Milmo (grandfather)
Children
2
Alma mater
University of Manchester
Nottingham Trent University
Website
chuka.org.uk
Chuka Harrison Umunna//ⓘ (/ˈtʃʊkəəˈmuːnə/; born 17 October 1978) is a British businessman and former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham from 2010 until 2019. A former member of the Labour Party, he was part of the Shadow Cabinet from 2011 to 2015. He left Labour in February 2019, when he resigned to form The Independent Group, later Change UK, along with six other MPs. Later in 2019, he left Change UK and, after a short time as an independent MP, joined the Liberal Democrats. In the 2019 general election, he was unsuccessful in being re-elected as an MP and did not return to the House of Commons.
Born in Lambeth to a Nigerian father and English-Irish mother, Umunna was educated at St Dunstan's College, a private school in Catford, Lewisham. He then studied law at the University of Manchester and Nottingham Trent University. A teenage member of the Liberal Democrats, he joined the Labour Party in 1997 when the party was styling itself as "New Labour". He worked as a solicitor in the City of London, first for Herbert Smith and then for Rochman Landau, while writing articles for the Compass think tank.
Umunna was selected as Labour's parliamentary candidate for Streatham in 2008, and was elected MP in the 2010 general election. When in parliament, he aligned with the party's "Blue Labour" trend, which rejects neoliberal economics. He sat on the Treasury Select Committee until 2011, when he joined Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. He was re-elected in the 2015 and 2017 general elections. Following Miliband's resignation, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader in 2015; Umunna was critical of the party leadership and resigned from the Shadow Cabinet to sit as a backbencher.
A supporter of the unsuccessful 2016 referendum campaign to retain UK membership of the European Union, Ummuna campaigned for a referendum on the final deal with the EU. In February 2019, he resigned from Labour and joined The Independent Group, later Change UK. He was its group spokesperson but left in June 2019 to sit as an independent MP following "disappointing" European Parliament election results showing the party had "failed to get a single MEP elected". One week later, Umunna joined the Liberal Democrats and was appointed their Treasury and Business Spokesperson by leader Vince Cable. In August 2019, he was appointed Foreign Affairs, International Development and International Trade Spokesperson by new leader Jo Swinson. He stood for Cities of London and Westminster in the 2019 general election but lost to Nickie Aiken of the Conservatives.
In 2021 he became he joined JPMorgan Chase as Managing Director of its Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) advisory group in London.
Chuka Harrison Umunna // (/ˈtʃʊkə əˈmuːnə/; born 17 October 1978) is a British businessman and former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP)...
division, Uttarakhand, India Chuka man-eating tiger, a man-eating tiger that operated around the village in Kumaon ChukaUmunna (born 1978), British Liberal...
Umunna is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: ChukaUmunna, British politician Glory Umunna, Nigerian beauty pageant winner This page...
parliament as part of a federal UK was suggested by Labour politician ChukaUmunna in July 2015. The Constitutional Reform Group is a group made up of politicians...
Ann Coffey, Mike Gapes, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Angela Smith and ChukaUmunna, after they announced their resignations from the opposition Labour Party...
Committee, gaining more votes than fellow candidates, Caroline Flint, ChukaUmunna and Paul Flynn. As chair, Cooper launched a national inquiry into public...
Patricia (born 1949/1950), a solicitor; she married Bennett Umunna in 1976 His grandson ChukaUmunna has been a British Member of Parliament. His other grandchildren...
and was reported as being a member of the Breakfast Club; along with ChukaUmunna, Tristram Hunt and Emma Reynolds. On 10 May 2015, Kendall announced that...
system, which has received support from former Shadow Business Secretary ChukaUmunna MP, who supported the idea of a bank looking to "serve and grow the local...
as Shadow Minister for Enterprise and Small Business in 2011, under ChukaUmunna. As Shadow Business Minister he was responsible for Labour's policies...
Tracey, jazz musician Tommy Trinder, comedian Leonora Tyson, suffragist ChukaUmunna, former Labour and Liberal Democrat MP Dennis Wheatley, author June Whitfield...
Brexit, but the other parties rejected the idea. Change UK's co-founder ChukaUmunna confirmed the Lib Dem approach, but he and Change UK interim leader Heidi...
questions for MP ChukaUmunna". The Times. London. Retrieved April 12, 2013. Hope, Christopher (April 7, 2013). "Labour star ChukaUmunna admits his aides...
as "offering a home to those on the centre-left". Former Change UK MP ChukaUmunna joined the Liberal Democrats shortly after the party's formation after...
to the Shadow Cabinet, as were several of the 2010 intake, including ChukaUmunna, Margaret Curran and Rachel Reeves, with Liz Kendall and Michael Dugher...
Party broadcast[permanent dead link], labour.org.uk, 30 April 2012. "ChukaUmunna on Instagram: "Great catching up with my constituent @davidharewood at...
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central, becoming the first female British MP of African origin ChukaUmunna – British Labour Party Member of Parliament for Streatham constituency...
Reeves Baroness Royall of Blaisdon Owen Smith Jon Trickett Stephen Twigg ChukaUmunna Tom Watson Shaun Woodward Also attended meetings Lord Bach Jon Cruddas...
He was replaced by new Shadow Minister of State for Small Business, ChukaUmunna. Harman and Lewis swapped substantive portfolios (International Development...
Khan, Nicola Sturgeon, George Osborne, John McDonnell, John Bercow, and ChukaUmunna from the world of politics, as well as conducting in-depth interviews...
of the Labour Party". Vice News. Streeting, Wes (1 February 2017). "ChukaUmunna and Wes Streeting: Why we Labour Remainers voted to trigger Article 50"...