She was appointed shadow Arts and Culture Minister in January 2016,but resigned on 27 June 2016 owing to her lack of confidence in the Labour Party Leader,Jeremy Corbyn.[4] She rejoined his frontbench team as a whip in October that year,[5] before being made Shadow Brexit Minister in January 2020.[6]
She has co-authored two books,and a number of papers,about domestic violence.[17] In 2004,Debbonaire and her husband,Kevin Walton,co-authored (along with Emilie Debbonaire) a report for Ireland's Department of Justice,Equality and Law Reform entitled Evaluation of work with domestic abusers in Ireland.[18][19][20]
Shortly after being elected,Debbonaire was diagnosed with breast cancer,[22][23] and did not attend a parliamentary vote from June 2015 until March 2016.[24] She subsequently called on Parliament to allow MPs to vote remotely after she was unable to participate in votes during her recovery.[25]
During her treatment period she was appointed as Shadow Arts and Culture Minister by Jeremy Corbyn. According to Debbonaire,she found out about the role when a journalist contacted her in hospital in response to a Labour press release announcing that she was taking it on,and was then briefly removed from the position before she got a chance to meet with Corbyn.[26][27][28] According to Debbonaire's colleague Chi Onwurah,whose frontbench portfolio was briefly split with hers,Corbyn's communication with both women,directly or indirectly,was practically non-existent.[29]
Debbonaire resigned from her role on 27 June 2016 following a series of other resignations,saying that she did not believe Corbyn was the right person to lead the Labour Party into the next election.[30] She also opposed Corbyn's call for Article 50 to be triggered on the day immediately following the referendum on the European Union.[28] Debbonaire's resignation attracted criticism in her Constituency Labour Party (CLP),with some concerned members accusing her of being a liar,a "traitor",and a "scab".[31] Debbonaire endorsed Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership election.[32][33] After Corbyn defeated Smith,on 12 October 2016,Debbonaire accepted an appointment as a shadow whip in Corbyn's frontbench team.[34]
Debbonaire was reelected in the 2017 general election with an increased majority of 37,336 votes;[35] this was the fourth-largest majority by vote size nationally.[36] Bristol West had been the number one target for the Green Party,[37][35][38] which slipped to third place behind the Conservatives with a 12.9% vote share.[35] Debbonaire had resisted calls from the Green Party for her to stand aside as part of a progressive alliance.[38] The size of Debbonaire's majority was considered a shock,as the seat had been billed as a four-way marginal.[39][40]
On 15 September 2017,Debbonaire held what is thought to be the UK's first constituency surgery specifically for people on the autism spectrum.[41][42] In the same month,she urged local constituency members discontented about her resignation to stop planning her deselection,which she claimed was "a catastrophic waste of time".[32]
In January 2022,Debbonaire was reselected to stand again as a candidate in the next General Election in a new Bristol Central constituency,the successor constituency to Bristol West created from the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies.[44] On 4 September 2023 she was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Social,Media &Sport by Keir Starmer despite admitting she had never been to a football or rugby match before.[45]
Views
Debbonaire describes herself as a "northern European socialist –a democratic socialist". She supports "fettered capitalism".[28]
Debbonaire opposes the decriminalisation of prostitution[46] and has called for more funding and research to help reform male perpetrators of domestic violence.[47] She supports mandatory education classes in female equality for newly arrived male refugees,[48] as well as more English language support for refugees as part of a broader integration strategy.[49] She has called on Bristol City Council to stop issuing licences to strip clubs in the city.[50][51] Debbonaire has also called for student accommodation providers to pay council tax.[52][53]
Before the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union,Debbonaire endorsed remaining in the EU.[55] Bristol West voted to remain in the European Union by 79.3%;this was the third-highest percentage result for the Remain campaign by parliamentary constituency.[56]
On 27 January 2017,Debbonaire stated that she would vote against triggering Article 50,despite being a whip herself and Labour imposing a three-line whip to vote for the government motion. She explained that this was because the government intended to leave "the Single Market or something close to it".[57] On 29 June 2017,Debbonaire abstained from voting in an amendment by Chuka Umunna to the Queen's Speech which would have kept the UK in the Single Market and held a vote on the final Brexit deal;her abstention was criticised by Molly Scott Cato,the local Green Party candidate in the 2017 general election.[58] Debbonaire defended her abstention,stating that she had supported a similar amendment drafted by Labour. She affirmed:"I will do everything I can to stop the UK from leaving the EU."[59]
In December 2017,Debbonaire criticised the quality of the Brexit impact papers published by David Davis,then the Brexit Secretary.[47] She stated that the sectoral analyses "wouldn't get an A grade...if [the government] were submitting it as GCSE research" and believed that the papers only compiled information already publicly available.[46] She accused the government of "a dereliction of duty".[60]
In July 2018,Debbonaire said that she did not support a referendum on the Brexit deal.[61] She was criticised by Vince Cable,the leader of the Liberal Democrats.[61][62] In response,Debbonaire said that there was insufficient public support for a final vote on the deal,and she accused the Liberal Democrats of "playing politics" on the issue.[62]
Drugs reform
Debbonaire's treatment for breast cancer led her to support greater regulation of alcohol. She supports mandatory graphic health warnings on alcoholic drinks,akin to those on cigarette packaging,and has called for parliamentary debate to raise awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer.[23]
Debbonaire has previously called for an “evidence-based policy review”of the laws around drugs such as ecstasy and marijuana. She supports sending addicted users to mandatory rehabilitation programmes.[63] Debbonaire has also voiced support for "drug consumption rooms",telling ministers that drug-related admissions to Bristol Royal Infirmary cost the NHS £1.3 million per year.[64] On 10 July 2018,Debbonaire co-launched a campaign for drugs policy reform alongside fellow Labour whip Jeff Smith.[65][66] The campaign was launched without policy proposals,intended as a forum for Labour members to discuss drugs policy reform.[66] Shortly after launching the campaign,Debbonaire called for drug-testing services to be made compulsory at festivals and nightclubs across the UK.[67][68][69] She had previously called for a Royal Commission to investigate the impact of drugs and had called for the Prime Minister to watch Drugsland,a BBC documentary on drugs in Bristol.[70]
Harassment
In August 2016,a student at the University of Bristol was investigated after telling Debbonaire to "get in the sea",a humorous Internet meme,[71] which she misinterpreted as a literal death threat.[72] Following a complaint to the university by Debbonaire concerning that tweet and others,including one which called her a "traitor",the student apologised,deleted the tweet,and closed her Twitter account. The tweet was posted on the day of the funeral of Jo Cox,another Labour MP,who was murdered in June 2016.[73][74]
In November 2017,a constituent who harassed Debbonaire was jailed for 20 weeks after leaving multiple "upsetting and disturbing" racially offensive answerphone messages for a senior case worker.[75][76]
Personal life
Debbonaire is married to Kevin Walton,an opera singer,former actor and a director of Ark Stichting,an Amsterdam charity that works with children with special educational needs.[18][77]
Since her breast cancer treatment,during which time she read about the links between cancer and alcohol,Debbonaire drinks very little alcohol,[78] is vegan and spent a month in 2017 attempting to live without single-use plastics.[79]
Debbonaire cites music,knitting and observing space as her hobbies.[80] During her treatment for breast cancer,she credited listening to classical music with helping her recovery.[18]
Debbonaire, Thangam (1994), "Children in refuges", in Mullender, Audrey; Morley, Rebecca (eds.), Children living with domestic violence: putting men's abuse of women on the child care agenda, London Concord, Massachusetts: Whiting & Birch, ISBN9781871177725.
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983. As of October 2020, Corbyn sat in the House of Commons as an independent, following the suspension of the whip. On 24 May 2024, Corbyn was expelled from the Labour Party.
Caroline Louise Flint is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Don Valley from 1997 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party, she attended the Cabinet as Minister for Housing and Planning in 2008 and Minister for Europe from 2008 to 2009.
Jeff Smith is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester Withington since 2015, and the Shadow Minister for Clean Power and Consumers since September 2023. A former Manchester City Councillor, he served as a senior opposition whip in Parliament from 2015 to 2021, and Shadow Minister for Local Government from May to 4 December 2021.
Gloria De Piero is a British broadcaster and former politician, who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield from 2010 to 2019.
Lisa Eva Nandy is a British Labour Party politician serving as Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development in 2023. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wigan since 2010. Nandy previously served as Shadow Foreign Secretary, Shadow Levelling Up Secretary and Shadow Energy Secretary.
Owen Smith is a British lobbyist and former Labour Party politician who has been the UK government relations director for pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb since 2020. Smith was Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontypridd from 2010 to 2019.
Chinyelu Susan "Chi" Onwurah is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne Central since 2010. She is a member of the Labour Party.
Lucy Maria Powell is a British politician serving as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons since 2023. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester Central since 2012.
Sarah Deborah Champion is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rotherham since 2012.
Karin Marguerite Smyth is a British Labour Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol South since 2015.
The 2015 Labour Party leadership election was triggered by the resignation of Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party on 8 May 2015, following the party's defeat at the 2015 general election. Harriet Harman, the Deputy Leader, became Acting Leader but announced that she would stand down following the leadership election. It was won by Jeremy Corbyn in the first round. Coterminous with the leadership election, in the 2015 Labour Party deputy leadership election, Tom Watson was elected to succeed Harman as deputy leader.
Joanna Meriel Stevens is a Welsh politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales since 2021, and previously from 2016 to 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Cardiff Central since 2015.
Melanie Onn is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party, she previously served as Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons from September 2015 to June 2016 and Shadow Minister for Housing from July 2017 to March 2019. At the 2019 general election, she lost the seat to the Conservative candidate Lia Nici-Townend.
Jessica Rose Phillips is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Yardley since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she was Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding in Keir Starmer's Opposition frontbench from 2020 to 2023.
Ofunne Kate Osamor is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Edmonton since 2015. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she was Shadow Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2018. She is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus.
Jeremy Corbyn assumed the position of Leader of the Opposition after being elected as leader of the Labour Party on 12 September 2015; the election was triggered by Ed Miliband's resignation following the Labour Party's electoral defeat at the 2015 general election when David Cameron formed a majority Conservative government. The usual number of junior shadow ministers were also appointed.
In British politics, the Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, or informally Shadow Brexit Secretary, was a position within the opposition's shadow cabinet that dealt with issues surrounding the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. The position was only ever a part of Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet between 2016 and 2020. If Corbyn had led Labour to an electoral victory, the shadow Secretary of State would have been a likely choice to serve as the new Secretary of State.
The Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn began when Jeremy Corbyn was elected as Leader of the UK Labour Party in September 2015, following the resignation of Ed Miliband after Labour's defeat at the 2015 general election. Disillusioned by a lack of a left-wing voice in the 2015 leadership contest, Corbyn stood on an anti-austerity platform. Of the candidates who stood, Corbyn received the fewest parliamentary nominations. Many who nominated him said they had done so not to support his candidacy, but to widen the debate by including a socialist voice. However, Corbyn soon became the frontrunner and was elected with a landslide of 59%.
Antonia Louise Antoniazzi is a Welsh Labour Party politician. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gower at the 2017 general election.
On 26–29 June 2016, 21 members of the Shadow Cabinet resigned from the frontbench. Following the Leave result in the referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union, Jeremy Corbyn faced heavy criticism for the perceived reluctance of his involvement in the campaign to Remain and his perceived weakness as leader of the Labour Party.
↑ Tait, Amelia (15 August 2016). "Get in the sea: when is a death threat not a death threat?". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017. ..."get in the sea" is a popular online joke: a saying used frequently on twitter to signal disdain...Debbonaire is insulted for not knowing the one-year-old epigram of an online clique.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
