The Streatham MP Chuka Umunna, who only four years ago was considering contesting the Labour party leadership, has applied for Liberal Democrat membership and been accepted. Apart from his personal talents, his appearance on the Lib Dem benches is welcome because it will show that the party is genuinely inclusive. There are many people of Afro-Caribbean origin working for the party and in elected positions in local government, but none has so far made the breakthrough at parliamentary level. For too long only the Irish unionist and the Nationalists have looked less diverse than the Lib Dems. Considering that one of its antecedents, the Liberal party, introduced the first MP of undisputed Indian origin, this is an unfortunate record. It should be noted, however, that the party leadership when it had the opportunity to nominate peers, made sure that Lib Dem barons and baronesses came from a wide ethnic and cultural background.
I was glad to see from the FT article that Mr Umunna has been critical of City practices, which is all to the good for the parliamentary party. The FT writers believe that his previous attack on the Lib Dems for participating in the Conservative-led austerity programme will be embarrassing for his new party, but he will find that there are many ordinary Liberal Democrat members and supporters who sympathise with him over that.
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It has been pointed out that Chuka Umunna also has Irish roots, being the grandson of the distinguished jurist Sir Helenus Milmo, an inquisitor at the Nuremberg Trials among other things.
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