Kate Osamor

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Kate Ofunne Osamor is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who has been the MP for Edmonton and Winchmore Hill (formerly Edmonton) since 2015. She served as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2018 and has been involved in the Socialist Campaign Group. She has also served as the Government’s Trade Envoy to East Africa.

Early life and career
Osamor was born on 15 August 1968 in London and grew up in Haringey with her mother, Martha Osamor, a Labour activist. Her father died when she was young. She studied at Creighton Comprehensive, Hackney College, and the University of East London, where she studied Third World Studies and discovered she has dyslexia. She worked for The Big Issue, then in the NHS, including as a GP practice manager. She joined the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee in 2014.

Political career
In the 2015 general election she was elected MP for Edmonton with about 61% of the vote. She supported Jeremy Corbyn in his leadership bid and was his Parliamentary Private Secretary from September 2015. In January 2016 she became Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, and in June 2016 she was named Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. She was re-elected in 2017 with a larger majority.

Osamor faced a few controversies. In 2016 she apologised for an unpaid internship advert that she said was a misunderstanding. In 2017 she was accused of plagiarising parts of her victory speech from Barack Obama’s 2008 address, which she said was deliberate. In December 2018 she resigned from the Shadow Cabinet to focus on her family, after reporting difficulties around issues involving her son.

Parliamentary standards and later years
In 2020 the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner found two breaches related to her handling of her son Ishmael’s case and the use of parliamentary stationery, and ordered her to apologise. Osamor has continued to be involved in Parliament, including representing Edmonton in the redesigned Edmonton and Winchmore Hill constituency after boundary changes.

Personal life
Osamor has a son, Ishmael, born in 1989, with her former partner Kim Udi. Her mother, Martha Osamor, is a long-time Labour activist and was appointed to the House of Lords in 2018 on the recommendation of Jeremy Corbyn.