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Monday, August 18, 2014

Chuka Umunna: his political and aristocratic ancestry

_. Chuka Umunna, Labour MP for Streaham, and shadow Buisness Secretary, hailed in the Press as the 'black Blair' and tipped to be Britain's first black prime minister has a rich English political ancestry, which includes radical 19th century politicians, advocates for the abolition of slavery, peers, and prominent businessmen.

Umunna was born in 1978 to a Nigerian, Bennett Umunna, who married Patricia Milmo, daughter of the High Court judge Sir Patrick Milmo

When studying for his MA at Nottingham Law School was Umunna aware that the statue of the radical Victorian statesman in the town was a member of his own family?

It has been revealed that Umunna is closely related to Arnold Morley, a barrister and Liberal politician who served under Gladstone, and Morley's father, Samuel, the philanthropist, political radical and abolitionist.

The Morleys were prominent hosiery manufacturers. One kinsman was Francis Morley, of Breadsall Priory, Derbyshire.

Cousins of Umunna include the Barons Hollenden, raised to the peerage in 1912. The first Lord Hollenden was Governor of the Bank of England in the Edwardian era. The Hollenden  connection links Umunna to the aristocratic Earls of Buckinghamshire, and to writer Evelyn Waugh's first wife the "she Evelyn".

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