Chuka Umanna: Leader in Waiting?

Just so I can beat Ollie Shah to it, I thought I would write about today’s event in which Chuka Umanna came to City University to talk to me and 12 other journalism students.

The young dynamic lawyer is the prospective candidate for the Labour stronghold seat of Streatham where MP Keith Hill will be standing down at the next election.

Chuka Ummuna: compared with Obama

Already, this 30 year-old mixed race candidate, who revealed he and his mother got caught up in the Brixton riots of the 80s, is being hailed by some as the British Barack Obama.

Yet from meeting him today he gave the impression that, although deeply flattered by the comparisons to Obama, he was not entirely happy with the lazy analogy.

I got the sense from him that by people using his race as a means of defining him it belittled the hard work he had done in his life up to this point – keen as he was to remind us that all the campaigning, talks and meetings he participates in are done for free, on top of a full time job.

If I were to make any comparison between Chuka and Obama it would be that, like the 44th President, his personable nature shone through.
I found the slight lilt of a south London “rude boy” accent poking through reassuring, as it was good to know Thames Estuary English doesn’t need to be the norm of a politician.

His opinions on his potential colleagues was scathing at times and he was keen to put the knife in on career politicians – yet when the name Miliband was suggested like a true politician he refused to be drawn on it.

He believes PMQs should be scrapped and told of the dismay he felt when MPs said PMQs had its place because it gave a morale boost to MPs. He said: “the fact Labour has lifted 300,000 children out of poverty – shouldn’t that be enough reason to be cheerful?”

Without wishing to gush too much on Chuka’s charm, he seemed calm and relaxed throughout while his rhetoric was inspiring and refreshing – he even said “bollocks” at one point (don’t tell Keith Vaz).

At points he was even slumped forward at the desk his was sitting at, like a naughty schoolboy so confident of his own abilities there was no need to concentrate too hard.

Yet I believe he was given an easy ride today – maybe it was because of the short amount of time we got with him, maybe it was Martin Bright’s evident awe of him (I’ve never seen Brighty quite so eager, muttering sounds of agreement throughout), or maybe his message of genuinely making politics engaging for today’s youth really resonated with a room full of students in their twenties.

Martin Bright: In awe

Either way, I think he will get tougher grillings in the future, and that will be when he is truly tested.

Currently he says he wants to really make a difference, and with his freethinking opinions he could bring a lot to politics.

Let’s just hope he can maintain his own integrity and not endlessly pander to the party line – that’s what makes a great politician.

Obama wrote (last comparison, promise) in his second book The Audacity of Hope about when he was a senator. A journalist approached him and said: “I really liked your first book, you were so honest and open. I hope you’ll be as honest now you’re a Senator” to which Obama writes, I’d like to think I have, encouraging you to read on to see whether the reader agrees.

As long as Chuka remembers the reasons why he wants to get into the murky world of Politics and not get clouded by the corridors of power then I think he has every chance of making it.