Diane Julie Abbott

Born in Paddington, London to Jamaican immigrants she went to Harrow City Girls' School[?] and then Newnham College, Cambridge[?]. After leaving university she became a researcher for Thames Television. Between 1976-1980 she was a civil servant and then between 1982-1987 a journalist. In the late 1980s she became the press officer of the Greater London Council (then led by Ken Livingstone).

Diane Abbott was married to David Thompson until a divorce in the mid-90s, she has one son by that marriage.