Labour Party Leadership Campaign - Chuka Umunna gives up nomination

Chuka Umunna

Even in the Labour Party in which some members very often organize and carry out campaigns of political harassment against political adversaries there is a climate of fear when it comes to be put under public scrutiny.

Chuka Umunna, the recently re-elected Streatham Member of Parliament, has now pulled out of the race to elect a new Labour Party Leader expressing concerns about unwanted interference in his private life.

As a public figure you are bound to be under public scrutiny and I am one of those who knows perfectly well the stresses of being a member of a political party and of standing to represent the said political party in elections.

In politics you must be willing to sacrifice your family life and this includes your right to privacy because the mass media and some political opponents will seek to destroy your image in every that they can.
Having said that, there are questions to be raised. Chuka Umunna, a rising star in the Labour Party and a very good speaker, politically experienced, had no qualms about standing as Candidate to be re-elected as Member of Parliament. Chuka Umunna was already in the public domain and therefore he was already subjected to the stresses of political life. What is new? Why did he give up his challenge to become Leader of the Labour Party?

Before anybody starts speculating, I would like Chuka Umunna to provide a full explanation of the additional reasons that led him to give up the top post in the Labour Party.