- Chi Onwurah
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Chi Onwurah MP Member of Parliament
for Newcastle upon Tyne CentralIncumbent Assumed office
6 May 2010Preceded by Jim Cousins Majority 7,466 (21.9%) Personal details Born 12 April 1965
Wallsend, Northumberland (now Tyne and Wear), EnglandNationality British Political party Labour Website www.chionwurahmp.com Chinyelu Susan "Chi" Onwurah[1] (born 12 April 1965)[2] is a British Labour Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne Central, replacing the previous Labour MP Jim Cousins, who decided to step down.[3] She is Newcastle's first black MP.[citation needed]
Contents
Early life
During the depression of the 1930s, Onwurah’s maternal grandfather was a sheet metal worker in Tyneside shipyards. Her mother grew up in poverty in Garth Heads on Newcastle’s quayside. Her father, from Nigeria, was working as a dentist while he studied at Newcastle Medical School when they met and married in the 1950s.
Born in 1965, Onwurah's family moved to Awka, Nigeria when she was still a baby. Just two years later the Biafran Civil War broke out bringing famine with it, forcing her mother to bring the children back to Newcastle, whilst her father stayed on in the Biafran army.[4]
Onwurah went on to gain a degree in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College London in 1987.[5] She worked in hardware and software development, product management, market development and strategy for a variety of mainly private sector companies in a number of different countries – Britain, France, US, Nigeria and Denmark while studying for an MBA at Manchester Business School.
Prior to becoming an MP she was Head of Telecoms Technology at OFCOM, with a focus on broadband provision.
Political career
Onwurah was very active in the Anti Apartheid Movement, and spent many years on its National Executive, and that of its successor organisation, ACTSA. She also joined the Advisory Board of the Open University Business School. Onwurah supported Ed Miliband in the 2010 Labour Party leadership election.[6] Miliband appointed Onwurah as a junior shadow minister for Business, Innovation and Skills on 10 October 2010.
Personal life
Outside of politics Onwurah enjoys music, reading and long walks in the countryside.
References
- ^ London Gazette: no. 59418. p. 8738. 13 May 2010.
- ^ "Chi Onwurah". Democracy Live. http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/83135.stm.
- ^ "Election 2010: Results". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/person/11832/chinyelu-onwurah. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ "Labour Party website". Archived from the original on 2010-11-03. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www2.labour.org.uk/mp/chinyelu_onwurah/833/. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
- ^ "Chinyelu Onwurah". Telegraph. http://ukpolitics.telegraph.co.uk/Newcastle+upon+Tyne+Central/Chinyelu+Onwurah. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ Why I'm supporting Ed Milliband Chi Onwurah, 27 July 2010
External links
- Official website
- Parliamentary Record TheyWorkForYou
Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded by
Jim CousinsMember of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne Central
2010–presentIncumbent Categories:- 1965 births
- Living people
- Labour Party (UK) MPs
- UK MPs 2010–
- Alumni of Imperial College London
- Alumni of the University of Manchester
- English people of Nigerian descent
- English people of Igbo descent
- Black British politicians
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- Female members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- People from Wallsend
- Wallsend
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