Member News
By Gurpreet Singh Brar - 5th August 2010
Chuka Umunna speaks to ePolitix.com about life as a newly-elected Labour MP.
How does it feel to finally be the Member of Parliament for Streatham?
It's amazing! I love what I do and I feel blessed to do it. I couldn’t ask for a better job and to be able do something whilst making a change to the community in which I grew up, and I’m still living in, is an utter privilege.
Are the first few weeks of Parliament like being a fresher at university? Who would you classify as being your mates?
I’m quite fortunate as a lot of this intake I knew pretty well before I got elected, because we’d all been PPCs for some period of time and quite a few of us are the same age.
I’ve also got to know a lot of people very well through Ed Miliband’s campaign, but overall I’m always looking to make new friends and I’m not a cliquey person.
There are however some that I know pretty well, like Jonathan Reynolds who is a very old friend of mine as we went to university together.
And then there are others like Jon Cruddas, Lisa Nandy, Rachel Reeves, Emma Reynolds, Luciana Berger. They’re the people that I often hang with.
You made your maiden speech on the June 2. How did it feel?
I wanted to use the opportunity to say something important on behalf of my constituents and I wouldn’t say I was nervous, but I did feel that I didn’t want to let my constituents down.
Also I wanted to use the opportunity to say a few things. During the election campaign there was a lot of talk about ‘Broken Britain’ and I used it to say very clearly that Streatham is not a broken constituency.
Secondly, I used it to address the most important issue of this Parliament, that of the public finances and the economy going forward.
That’s why I stated clearly in my speech that I don’t think that withdrawing investment from the very people we are looking to grow our economy in the future is the right way ahead.
What has been the single most challenging thing for you since you were elected?
For me it’s been managing my time effectively, as your time is at an absolute premium and everyone seems to want a piece of it.
I thought that somehow it would be easier as now I only have one job, rather than my candidacy and my full time job as a solicitor before the election, but my diary is even more pressurised.
Parliament is an extremely busy place and there are constant meetings and events that I want to be part of. On top of that there is the time needed to prepare for speaking in the Chamber or when raising an issue and that takes time to research.
Finally I have to somehow also maintain some ‘me’ time to chill out with my family and friends as I don’t think it makes for a good politician if you do just politics 100 per cent of your time. So time management is the single most challenging thing for me.
You have been elected on to Treasury select committee.
One of the things that has been wonderful in the PLP is that all the new MPs have been massively encouraged by returning Members to step forward and go for it. It has been an amazing family atmosphere and I’m grateful that they’ve allowed me this opportunity and have elected me onto this very important committee.
I’m looking forward to the work of the committee and to scrutinising the government's proposals.
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