Oona King
Oona King | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green & Bow | |
| In office 2 May 1997 – 6 May 2005 | |
| Preceded by | (new constituency) |
| Succeeded by | George Galloway |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 October 1967 Sheffield, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | Tiberio Santomarco |
| Alma mater | University of York |
Oona Tamsyn King (born 22 October 1967, in Sheffield) is a British politician. She was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Bethnal Green & Bow from 1997 until the 2005 election, when she was defeated by Respect candidate George Galloway.
Early life
King, who is mixed race, was born in 1967 to a Jewish mother committed to social justice issues, Murreil Hazel Stern, and an African-American father, civil rights activist Preston King. She is the niece of the medical doctor Miriam Stoppard (her mother's sister) and playwright Tom Stoppard. [1]
King was educated at Haverstock Comprehensive Secondary School on Crogsland Road in Chalk Farm (borough of Camden), London, being there at the same time as David Miliband and his brother. She received a joint degree in Politics from both the University of York in the UK and the University of California, Berkeley in the US, graduating with a BA in 1990.
Political life
King joined the Labour Party at the age of 14.
Before becoming an MP, King was on the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, and worked as a political assistant to Glyn Ford MEP, the Labour Party Leader in the European Parliament, and later Glenys Kinnock MEP. From 1995-7, she was a political organiser for the GMB Southern Region..
She was selected to represent the seat of Bethnal Green & Bow early in 1997. Peter Shore had announced his retirement early but faction fighting in the Constituency Labour Party led to party headquarters delaying the selection and imposing its own shortlist; some leading competitors from the local Bangladeshi community were not included.
1997 election to Parliament
By winning the seat in 1997, King became only the second black woman to be elected as member of Parliament, the first being Diane Abbott. She has been selected as one of 100 Great Black Britons for this achievement.
In her maiden speech of 5 July 1997, King highlighted the influence that her and her parents' ethnic background had:
For me, racism is not an academic point. My father is black and my mother is Jewish. As a child in Newcastle, my mother was lined up against a wall and stoned because, as her schoolmates put it, she, as a Jew, was responsible for the death of their Lord... I have also been called names such as yid, nigger, wog, half-caste and mongrel. Those are unparliamentary terms, but I hope that my background can be a bridge between two cultures. [2]
Iraq
King supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which was controversial for the constituency's large Muslim population. This led to the RESPECT Coalition's George Galloway, a leader of the Stop the War Coalition, standing against her at the 2005 general election. This challenge was one of the media highlights of the election.[3]
She subsequently changed her views, after viewing the poor handling of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath by the United States:
it shows that America has no grasp whatever on the activity needed to rebuild a destroyed city. And if they can't do that in their own country, then it's obvious why they can't do it in Iraq. So ... I regret that we went to war with a country that has shown itself to be incapable of the very basic actions required to deal with post-conflict reconstruction.[1]
Loss of 2005 election
The campaign was beset by tensions and scuffles. King said the fact that her mother was Jewish had come up repeatedly, "in a quite disturbing way. As a kid it was always 'oi, you nigger,' 'you wog' and all the rest of it, and now it was 'yids,' 'you Jewish bitch, get out of here,' all of that sort of stuff."[4]
Both she and Galloway requested police protection. Together with Galloway, she made a plea for calm and restraint amongst local people, though she said: "I have to say it has not been helped by some of the language used by Respect. Extremism breeds extremism." King said of Galloway, "What makes me sick is that when I come across someone who is guilty of genocide, I do not get on a plane and go to Baghdad and grovel at his feet." Galloway had responded to claims of racism by noting his concern about "the deaths of many people in Iraq with blacker faces than hers."[3].
King lost the seat by a narrow margin of 823 votes, overturning her majority of ten thousand and resulting in a 26.2% swing from King to Galloway.[5] A request for a recount by King and her agent was denied by the returning officer.
After the 2005 election
King had said that she would remain in Bethnal Green & Bow with her constituency office funded from the GMB trade union, attempting to act as an unofficial MP. However, she is now pursuing a career in the media, and has said: "I wanted to be an MP all my life, and when it didn't work, I thought, well then, I'll just have to go down a different path."[6]
Quotations
- More 4 segment on her ethnicity:
"People say your mother is Jewish and your father African-American is interesting. Also my grandmother is from Glasgow."[7]
- April 2006, essay for the BBC programme This Week:
"Multiculturalism hasn't failed; it's a statement of fact. We live together, side by side in this country very well, and far better than most. But to neglect any community is a recipe for disaster. To ensure that disaster doesn't come in the shape of the BNP, then politicians must wake up to the concerns of the white working class. Fast."[8]
Miscellaneous
- King's husband, Tiberio Santomarco whom she married in 1994, is from Italy and they have an adopted son named Elia.
- King also speaks Italian and French.
- King also presented parts on the Open University, W100 course (Intro to Law).
- King is referenced in the rapper TY's track "Haha" which features on his album "Upwards"
- She has made appearances on television shows such as This Week, The Daily Politics and The All Star Talent Show on Five, and was a guest on Have I Got News For You.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b "The Emma Brockes interview: Oona King" "Guardian Unlimited" 12 September 2005
- ^ Hansard "Hansard" 1 July 1997
- ^ a b "Galloway's East End street fight", BBC News 6 May 2005
- ^ "Oona King denounces intimidation" "BBC News" 11 May 2005
- ^ "Result: Bethnal Green & Bow". BBC News: Election 2005. BBC. 2005-5-23. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Odone, Cristina (2005-11-23). "'In Narnia, boys are brave and bossy, while girls cook and are pure of heart'". guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
- ^ "Personalities: Oona King". More4. Channel 4. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
- ^ "Oona King". This Week. BBC. 2006-04-21. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
External links
- Oona King official site
- Guardian Politics Ask Aristotle - Oona King
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Oona King MP
- - Essay for BBC One's This Week
- 100 Great Black Britons - Oona King MP
- Israel can halt this now, Oona King, The Guardian, 12 June 2003
- Shock win for Galloway in London, BBC, 6 May 2005
- Post election Oona King interview, audio, Today programme, BBC Radio 4, 11 May 2005
- The Exile And His Daughter - Preston King, scholar, author, draft evader, 40 years in waiting for a pardon, Essence Magazine, February 2001
- Q: Did anti-semitism cost you the election? A: Definitely. There was Iraq, of course, but it was particularly being Jewish, Emma Brockes talks to former Labour MP Oona King, The Guardian, 12 September 2005