الجمعة، 13 ديسمبر 2019

Dominic Raab

Dominic Rennie Raab (born 25 February 1974)[1] is a British politician serving as First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs since July 2019. Raab served in the British Cabinet as Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union in 2018, until his resignation. A member of the Conservative Party, he has also been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Esher and Walton since 2010.

Raab was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice on 12 May 2015. When Prime Minister Theresa May appointed her first government a year later, he returned to the backbenches. Following the 2017 general election, he was appointed Minister of State for Courts and Justice. When the government was reshuffled in January 2018, Raab moved to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.[2]

In July 2018, PM May promoted Raab to his first Cabinet role, becoming the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union following the resignation of David Davis.[3] Raab resigned as Brexit Secretary on 15 November 2018, in opposition to the Draft Withdrawal Agreement which he had been involved in negotiating with the EU.[4]

He was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and First Secretary of State by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 24 July 2019. This followed the resignation of Jeremy Hunt, who left the government after losing in the final ballot of the Conservative Party leadership election to Johnson.
Early life and education
Born in Buckinghamshire in 1974,[5] Raab is the son of Peter and Jean Raab.[6] His father, who was Jewish, came to Britain from Czechoslovakia in 1938 aged six, following the Munich Agreement.[7][8][9][10] His father became a food manager for Marks & Spencer and his mother was a clothes buyer. Raab grew up in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. He was brought up in his English mother's faith, in the Church of England.[7] Raab was 12 years old when his father died of cancer.[citation needed]

Raab attended Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham before studying law at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence. Raab captained the university karate team and shared halls of residence with future Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman. He then pursued further studies at Jesus College, Cambridge where he won the Clive Parry Prize for International Law, and took a Master's degree (LLM).[11][12][13]

Early career
After leaving Cambridge, Raab worked at Linklaters in London, completing his two-year training contract at the firm and then leaving shortly after qualifying as a solicitor in 2000. At Linklaters he worked on project finance, international litigation and competition law. This included time on secondments at Liberty (the human rights NGO) and in Brussels advising on EU and WTO law.[14][third-party source needed] He spent the summer of 1998 at Birzeit University near Ramallah, the PNA's capital in the West Bank, where he worked for one of the principal PLO negotiators of the Oslo peace accords, assessing World Bank projects on the West Bank.

Raab joined the Foreign Office in 2000, covering a range of briefs including leading a team at the British Embassy in The Hague, dedicated to bringing war criminals to justice. After returning to London, he advised on the Arab–Israeli conflict, the European Union and Gibraltar. He defended Tony Blair against a subpoena from former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević. From 2006 to 2010, he worked in Parliament as Chief of Staff to Shadow Home Secretary David Davis and to Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Grieve.

Parliamentary career
Member of Parliament
Raab was elected to Parliament at the 2010 election to represent Esher and Walton, a safe Conservative seat in Surrey, with a total of 32,134 votes (58.9% of the vote)[15] and a majority of 18,593 over his nearest rival.[15]

He lives in and commutes from Thames Ditton, in his constituency. Since being elected he has campaigned for fairer funding for local services in Elmbridge, stronger local democracy in the running of community hospitals in Cobham, Walton and Molesey and more visible and responsive policing, and against the construction of an M25 service station at Downside.[16]

In the House of Commons, Raab spoke in support of the coalition government's plans to cut the budget deficit, expand academy schools, repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006, and enact a Freedom Bill.[17] He criticised the government for opting into the EU directive on the European Investigation Order, arguing it would strain operational policing resources, and would dilute safeguards protecting British citizens from misuse of personal data and guaranteeing a fair trial.[18]

He came to media attention in August 2010, after requesting that the pressure group 38 Degrees remove his parliamentary email address from their website, arguing that lobby groups sending or coordinating 'clone emails' designed to deluge MP's inboxes detracted from their ability to correspond with constituents and help those in real need. 38 Degrees said that the email address is paid for by taxpayers' money and is in the public domain, thus they have every right to host it on their website and use it for campaigning.[19][20]

He has participated in debates on giving prisoners the vote and extradition. In April 2011, he also presented an ultimately unsuccessful Ten Minute Rule Bill proposing that emergency service and transport unions should be required by law to ensure that strike votes receive 50% support of union members. Raab argued that reform was needed to prevent "militant union bosses" holding the "hard working majority" to ransom
On 7 March 2012, Raab opened a debate in the House of Commons on Sergei Magnitsky and Impunity for Gross Human Rights Abuses, calling on the UK government to bring forward legislative proposals that would allow it to impose visa bans and asset freezes on state officials responsible for gross human rights abuses against individuals. The motion was supported by three former Foreign Secretaries and two former Foreign Ministers and had cross-party support[23] and was passed unanimously by MPs.[24]

On 30 January 2014, Raab proposed an amendment to the Immigration Bill to deport all prisoners given a sentence of a year or more. It was defeated, but allowed 99 members to voice that change was necessary to prevent immigrants convicted of crimes from using the ECHR as support to remain in the UK.[25]

In the 2015 general election on 7 May, Raab retained his Esher and Walton seat with a majority of 28,000 votes over his nearest rival.[26] On 12 May, he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice under Michael Gove, with responsibility for human rights questions.[27] In September 2015, in this capacity, he addressed representatives of the 46 other member states of the Council of Europe on the question of the UK's blanket ban on prisoner voting.[28]

In the 2017 general election, Raab was elected with a reduced majority of 23,000.[29]

EU referendum campaign
Raab was an active campaigner in the 2016 EU membership referendum, advocating that Britain should leave the European Union. He said in an interview that it would be better for the British economy to leave: "We'll be better off if we're freed up to trade more energetically with the growth markets like Latin America and Asia. I think it will be good for job creation and also cut prices in the stores." He also argued that there was too much waste and corruption in the EU.[30] During the Brexit campaign, Raab repeatedly argued that there was no doubt that the UK would get a deal with the EU.[31]

Brexit Secretary
On 9 July 2018, following the resignation of David Davis, Raab was appointed Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.[32]

In November 2018, Raab was criticised by Labour's shadow Brexit minister, Jenny Chapman, after Raab said that he "hadn't quite understood the full extent" of how much UK trade relies on the Dover-Calais crossing.[33][34]

In June 2019 EU sources claimed that he had been nicknamed "The Turnip" in Brussels, a play on raap, the Dutch word for the vegetable, so wrong-headed was his Brexit negotiating strategy.[35]

On 15 November 2018, Raab announced his resignation as Brexit Secretary, citing his disapproval over the Cabinet position on the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement.[36] According to a BBC News report, Raab was concerned with "two major and fatal flaws" in the draft agreement, namely that the proposed terms "threaten the integrity of the United Kingdom" and that "they would lead to an indefinite if not permanent situation where [the UK is] locked into a regime with no say over the rules being applied, with no exit mechanism", flaws which would prove "damaging for the economy [and] devastating for public trust in our democracy".[37] While subsequently describing May's deal as worse than remaining in the EU,[38] he voted in favour of it at the occasion of the third vote on the withdrawal agreement on 29 March 2019.[39] While thus voting in favour of the Irish backstop, as Foreign Secretary he subsequently described the backstop as "undemocratic and [...] something that will have to be removed."[40]

Following his resignation, Raab has defended the position that the UK should not pay the so-called Brexit divorce bill (amounting to around £39 billion) in the event of a no-deal Brexit.[41] This bill reflects commitments which the UK entered into for the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2014–2020 and so according to some interpretations is not linked to Britain's exit from the European Union.[42] The House of Lords alternatively has found that the UK would not be liable for such payments.[43]

2019 Conservative Party leadership election
On 25 May 2019, Raab announced he was standing in the Conservative Party leadership election after Theresa May announced her resignation.[44] In the second round of voting, on 18 June, Raab failed to obtain the required minimum number of 33 votes, winning 30 and finishing in sixth place, behind Sajid Javid.[45] After being eliminated, he endorsed the frontrunner Boris Johnson,[46] who subsequently won the contest.

Foreign Secretary
On 24 July 2019, Boris Johnson appointed Raab Foreign Secretary, succeeding Jeremy Hunt, and handed him the additional title First Secretary of State.[47] On arrival at the Foreign Office, Raab said: "I'm hugely humbled to take on this role at this time and excited about the opportunities that lie ahead."[48]

Shortly after his appointment, during an interview with Mishal Husain, Raab argued that the 2016 Brexit referendum had given the government a mandate to leave without a deal. Following the interview, the BBC reported that the Twitter accounts of Raab, Michael Gove, and the official Vote Leave campaign made no reference to leaving the EU without a deal in the six months leading up to the Brexit vote.[31]

Raab stood in for Boris Johnson for Prime Minister's Questions on 2 October 2019.[49]

Controversies
Libel case
On 30 January 2011, The Mail on Sunday published an article alleging that Raab, in his previous role as Chief of Staff to David Davis in 2007, had paid a female employee £20,000 in an out-of-court settlement as part of a confidentiality agreement to drop a claim of workplace bullying. Raab responded by stating: "This is a smear and any insinuation that I have behaved improperly is false and malicious". He subsequently sued the newspaper for libel. The Mail on Sunday's publisher Associated Newspapers' attempt to stop the action was denied by the High Court in December 2011.[50]

During these proceedings, it was disclosed that the employee had taken a claim against Raab to an employment tribunal, where it was settled with a compromise agreement which included monetary compensation and a confidentiality clause for both parties.[51][52] The newspaper issued an apology on 18 March 2012, stating: "We accept that our allegations were unfounded and we apologise to Mr Raab for the damage, embarrassment and offence caused". According to Raab, it also paid compensation as part of an out-of-court settlement.[53][54]

Westminster dossier
Main article: 2017 Westminster sexual scandals
In late October 2017, a dossier listing allegations of a mainly sexual nature against several dozen Conservative MPs made internally by party researchers was circulated at Westminster and amongst journalists.[55] Raab wrote on his website at the beginning of November that his entry made a false accusation of an "Injunction for inappropriate behaviour with a woman".[56] He commented: "I have never been served with any injunction for anything. Nor have I ever sought one". It was "false and malicious" to make "any insinuation that I have engaged in anything resembling sexual harassment, sexually abusive behaviour or lewd remarks". He believed the dossier itself was a "form of harassment and intimidation".[56] Raab said he was taking legal advice.[55]

Unpaid internship advertisement
In February 2018, Raab advertised for an unpaid intern just ahead of a Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) publication responding to the Taylor review on insecure work. The BEIS report criticised "exploitative unpaid internships", saying "an employer cannot avoid paying someone the minimum wage simply by calling them an 'intern' or saying that they are doing an internship."[57]

Impact of immigration on housing market
In April 2018, Raab said in an interview that immigration had "put house prices up by something like 20%" over the past 25 years.[58] The UK Statistics Authority asked Raab to publish the evidence for his claim. A document published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government shows that the finding was based on an out-of-date model that had never been intended for this kind of analysis. Raab defended the model and said: "I did indeed say care was needed with the data, and I was right that immigration put average prices up by 20%. We need a balanced approach."[59]

Political positions
Positive discrimination
In July 2010, he secured a review of positive discrimination rules being applied to Foreign and Commonwealth Office work experience schemes, having been contacted by a constituent who had been rejected from the scheme for failing to meet "the social criteria". The two programmes at the organisation barred white males from applying, other than those from low-income backgrounds; Raab argued they re-introduced discrimination 'via the backdoor'.[60][unreliable source?] The MP welcomed the review, blaming the situation on the previous Labour government. He stated "positive discrimination is wrong in the same way as negative discrimination. It means people are thinking in terms of social criteria and it is anti-meritocratic."[61]

Palestinian state
In 2011, Raab wrote that "Israeli settlement building undermined prospects for a contiguous Palestinian state."[62]

Prisoners' rights
On 10 February 2011, Raab gave the winding-up speech in the debate on whether to give prisoners the vote, arguing that freedom entails responsibility and that elected lawmakers in the House of Commons rather than "unaccountable" judges in Strasbourg should decide the matter.[63][64]

On 22 June 2011, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) published a report on The Human Rights Implications of British extradition.[65] As a member of the JCHR, Raab proposed that the committee look into the issue of fast-track extradition of British citizens following several instances of miscarriages of justice. In an article for The Times,[66] Raab argued that more needed to be done to protect British citizens subject to European Arrest Warrants. The JCHR has called for safeguards to ensure warrants are not issued for minor offences and when there is minimal evidence, and for checks to prevent extradition for investigation rather than prosecution. On 24 November 2011, Raab led a debate in the House of Commons calling for extradition reform.[67] His motion had cross-party support, and was backed by Gary McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharpe.[68][69]

The Miller case
On 3 November 2016, and in response to the decision of the High Court in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on whether Her Majesty's Government was entitled to notify an intention to leave the European Union under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union without a vote in Parliament, Raab stated that in the 2016 EU membership referendum "the British people gave a clear mandate for the UK Government to leave the EU and take back control of our borders, laws, money and trade. It is disappointing that today the court has chosen to ignore their decision". He went on to state that the decision was "a plain attempt to block Brexit by people who are out of touch with the country and refuse to accept the result. However, the vote to leave the EU was clear and they should not seek to obstruct it".[70]

Saudi Arabia
In October 2018, Raab told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show that the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi was a "terrible case" but the UK government was "not throwing our hands in the air and terminating the relationship with Saudi Arabia, not just because of the huge number of British jobs that depend on it but also because if you exert influence over your partners you need to be able to talk to them... The problem with Labour's position is it would cost thousands of British jobs."[71][72]

Writings
Civil liberties and justice
In 2009, Raab published his first book, The Assault on Liberty – What Went Wrong with Rights.[73] In October 2010, he published Fight Terror, Defend Freedom, a pamphlet on the Home Office counter-terrorism review.[74]

In January 2011, Raab wrote an article on the use of control orders in counter-terrorism cases in which he contended that they are ineffective and should be scrapped with a greater focus on prosecutions.[75]

Raab published a pamphlet with the think tank Civitas entitled Strasbourg in the Dock[76] in April 2011. The pamphlet followed Parliament's recent rejection of a European Court of Human Rights ruling (the Hirst case) that at least some prisoners should have the right to vote. Raab argued that unelected judges had overstepped the mark in relation to the case. The Strasbourg judges are elected by the 324 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, though this is itself not an elected body. Raab contended that many of the judges were lacking experience and as a result "are undermining the credibility and value of the Court".[77] Raab made a range of proposals to strengthen the authority of Britain's Supreme Court, give elected lawmakers the last word on creation of new rights, and reform the Strasbourg Court.

In July 2011, Raab called for reform of the UK Borders Act 2007 which allows foreign criminals to avoid deportation by claiming a "right to family life" under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. He proposed that the reference to the Human Rights Act be removed. He argued this could be done in a way that ensures foreign criminals could avoid deportation only if there is a "serious risk" they will be tortured on their return.[78]

Equality, meritocracy and positive discrimination
On 30 January 2011, he wrote a comment piece for The Sunday Times on the implementation of the Equality Act. Raab argued for a meritocratic approach against positive discrimination and highlighted the lower standard of human rights protections in extradition cases compared to deportation cases.[79]

In an article in January 2011 on the Politics Home website, Raab argued in favour of transferable paternity leave and against "the equality bandwagon" "pitting men and women against each other". He argued in favour of a consistent approach to sexism against men and women commenting that some feminists were "now amongst the most obnoxious bigots" and it was sexist to blame men for the recession.[80]

Raab highlighted the wide range of sex discrimination faced by males including "anti-male discrimination in rights of maternity/paternity leave", young boys being "educationally disadvantaged compared to girls", and how "divorced or separated fathers are systematically ignored by the courts". Raab stated "from the cradle to the grave, men are getting a raw deal. Men work longer hours, die earlier, but retire later than women", noting that the pensions inequalities were still not going to be rectified for another seven years.[81][82]

He was subsequently interviewed on the piece by the London Evening Standard[83] and BBC Radio 4.[84] Theresa May, who was Minister for Women and Equalities at the time, criticised Raab's "obnoxious bigots" comment but agreed with his suggestions on paternity leave and ending gender warfare.[85][86] Her remarks took place during a debate on employment law in the Commons.[87]

Raab's remarks were criticised by some Labour MPs, including Harriet Harman and Nia Griffith, who said Raab should "stop being so self-pitying. The reality is that women with very good qualifications time and time again do not get the top jobs and opportunities."[88] Raab stood by his comments in a comment piece for The Telegraph, highlighting the various statements Harman had made about men, contrasting them with similar comments about women by the likes of Andy Gray.[89] Raab also stated he had received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction to his comments "from both men and women".[90]

In July 2012, Raab published a pamphlet with the Centre for Policy Studies entitled Unleashing the British Underdog: 10 Bets on the Little Guy. In the report, Raab outlines 10 policies to improve social mobility and provide opportunities for those from non-traditional backgrounds to succeed.[91]

After the Coalition
In October 2011, Dominic Raab and four other MPs of the 2010 intake published After the Coalition, an argument that Conservative principles adapted to the modern world would be essential for the future national success of the party. The book was serialised in The Daily Telegraph. Raab wrote his piece for the paper on British foreign policy, arguing it should reflect the national interest: Britain should not overextend itself in foreign conflicts, aid should be focused on the poorest countries and Britain should champion free trade abroad.[92]

Regulation
In November 2011, Raab wrote a pamphlet published by the Centre for Policy Studies, Escaping the Strait Jacket – Ten Regulatory Reforms to Create Jobs. The paper makes the case for reforming red tape to boost job creation on grounds of economic competitiveness and social fairness.[93]

Britannia Unchained
In September 2012 Raab co-authored the book Britannia Unchained. The book addressed issues of national debt, state education, innovation and work ethic.

Raab called for measures to cut regulation on start-up companies, expand vocational training, reduce childcare costs and lower marginal (income-focused) rates of taxation to "rediscover and reward the lost virtue of hard-work – a tried and tested route to individual success, a more prosperous economy and a fairer society."[94]

Writing on work ethic in The Daily Telegraph, Raab said that longer periods in education, earlier retirement, welfare dependency and high marginal rates of taxation had led to a situation where "(w)e have a smaller proportion of the workforce pedalling harder to sustain the rest – which is economically debilitating and socially divisive

Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru (English: /ˌplaɪd ˈkʌmri/ PLYDE KUM-ree;[17] Welsh: [plaid ˈkəmri]; officially Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a social-democratic political party in Wales advocating Welsh independence from the United Kingdom within the European Union.[18][19]

Plaid was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in the UK Parliament in 1966. By 2018, it held one of four Welsh seats in the European Parliament, four of 40 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 10 of 60 seats in the National Assembly for Wales, and 202 of 1,264 principal local authority councillors.[20] It is a member of the European Free Alliance.
Platform
Plaid Cymru's goals as set out in its constitution are:

To promote the constitutional advancement of Wales with a view to attaining independence within the European Union;
To ensure economic prosperity, social justice and the health of the natural environment, based on decentralist socialism;
To build a national community based on equal citizenship, respect for different traditions and cultures and the equal worth of all individuals, whatever their race, nationality, gender, colour, creed, sexuality, age, ability or social background;
To create a bilingual society by promoting the revival of the Welsh language;
To promote Wales's contribution to the global community and to attain membership of the United Nations.
In September 2008, a senior Plaid assembly member spelled out her party's continuing support for an independent Wales. The Welsh Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones, began Plaid's annual conference by pledging to uphold the goal of making Wales a European Union member state. She told the delegates in Aberystwyth that the party would continue its commitment to independence under the coalition with the Welsh Labour Party.[21]

History
Beginnings

Plaque commemorating the founding of Plaid Cymru, Pwllheli
While both the Labour and Liberal parties of the early 20th century had accommodated demands for Welsh home rule, no political party existed for the purpose of establishing a Welsh government. Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru (English: The National Party of Wales) was formed on 5 August 1925, by Moses Gruffydd, H. R. Jones and Lewis Valentine, members of Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru ("The Home Rule Army of Wales"; literally, "The Self-Rulers' Army of Wales"); and Fred Jones, Saunders Lewis and David John Williams of Y Mudiad Cymreig ("The Welsh Movement").[22] Initially, home rule for Wales was not an explicit aim of the new movement; keeping Wales Welsh-speaking took primacy, with the aim of making Welsh the only official language of Wales.[23]

In the 1929 general election the party contested its first parliamentary constituency, Caernarvonshire, polling 609 votes, or 1.6% of the vote for that seat. The party contested few such elections in its early years, partly due to its ambivalence towards Westminster politics. Indeed, the candidate Lewis Valentine, the party's first president, offered himself in Caernarvonshire on a platform of demonstrating Welsh people's rejection of English dominion.[24]

1930s
By 1932, the aims of self-government and Welsh representation at the League of Nations had been added to that of preserving Welsh language and culture. However, this move, and the party's early attempts to develop an economic critique, did not broaden its appeal beyond that of an intellectual and socially conservative Welsh language pressure group.[25] The alleged sympathy of the party's leading members (including President Saunders Lewis) towards Europe's totalitarian regimes compromised its early appeal further.[26]

Saunders Lewis, David John Williams and Lewis Valentine set fire to the newly constructed RAF Penyberth air base on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd in 1936, in protest at its siting in the Welsh-speaking heartland. The leaders' treatment, including the trial judge's dismissal of the use of Welsh and their subsequent imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs, led to "The Three" becoming a cause célèbre. This heightened the profile of the party dramatically and its membership had doubled to nearly 2,000 by 1939.[23][27]

1940s
Penyberth, and Plaid Cymru's neutral stance during the Second World War, prompted concerns within the UK Government that it might be used by Germany to insert spies or carry out other covert operations.[28] In fact, the party adopted a neutral standpoint and urged (with only limited success) conscientious objection to war service.[29]

In 1943 Saunders Lewis contested the University of Wales parliamentary seat at a by-election, gaining 1,330 votes, or 22%. In the 1945 general election, with party membership at around 2,500, Plaid Cymru contested seven seats, as many as it had in the preceding 20 years, including constituencies in south Wales for the first time. At this time Gwynfor Evans was elected president.

1950s
Gwynfor Evans's presidency coincided with the maturation of Plaid Cymru (as it now began to refer to itself) into a more recognisable political party. Its share of the vote increased from 0.7% in the 1951 general election to 3.1% in 1955 and 5.2% in 1959. In the 1959 election, the party contested a majority of Welsh seats for the first time. Proposals to flood the village of Capel Celyn in the Tryweryn valley in Gwynedd in 1957 to supply the city of Liverpool with water played a part in Plaid Cymru's growth. The fact that the parliamentary bill authorising the dam went through without support from any Welsh MPs showed that the MPs' votes in Westminster were not enough to prevent such bills from passing.[30]

1960s
Support for the party declined slightly in the early 1960s, particularly as support for the Liberal Party began to stabilise from its long-term decline. In 1962 Saunders Lewis gave a radio talk entitled Tynged yr Iaith (The fate of the language) in which he predicted the extinction of the Welsh language unless action was taken. This led to the formation of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) the same year.[31]

Labour's return to power in 1964 and the creation of the post of Secretary of State for Wales appeared to represent a continuation of the incremental evolution of a distinctive Welsh polity, following the Conservative government's appointment of a Minister of Welsh Affairs in the mid-1950s and the establishment of Cardiff as Wales's capital in 1955.

However, in 1966, less than four months after coming in third in the constituency of Carmarthen, Gwynfor Evans captured the seat from Labour at a by-election. This was followed by two further by-elections in Rhondda West in 1967 and Caerphilly in 1968 in which the party achieved massive swings of 30% and 40% respectively, coming within a whisker of victory. The results were caused partly by an anti-Labour backlash. Expectations in coal mining communities that the Wilson government would halt the long-term decline in their industry had been dashed by a significant downward revision of coal production estimates.[32] However, particularly in Carmarthen, Plaid also successfully depicted Labour's policies as a threat to the viability of small Welsh communities.[33]

1970s
In the 1970 general election Plaid Cymru contested every seat in Wales for the first time and its vote share surged from 4.5% in 1966 to 11.5%. Gwynfor Evans lost Carmarthen to Labour, but regained the seat in October 1974, by which time the party had gained a further two MPs, representing the constituencies of Caernarfon and Merionethshire.

Plaid campaigned to leave The Common Market in the 1975 referendum.[34][35] Wales and The UK voted to remain.

Plaid Cymru's emergence (along with the Scottish National Party) prompted the Wilson government to establish the Kilbrandon Commission on the constitution. The subsequent proposals for a Welsh Assembly were, however, heavily defeated in a referendum in 1979. Despite Plaid Cymru's ambivalence toward home rule (as opposed to outright independence) the referendum result led many in the party to question its direction.[24]

At the 1979 general election the party's vote share declined from 10.8% to 8.1% and Carmarthen was again lost to Labour, although Caernarfon and Merionethshire were held by the Party.

1980s
Caernarfon MP Dafydd Wigley succeeded Gwynfor Evans as president in 1981, inheriting a party whose morale was at an all-time low. In 1981 the party adopted "community socialism" as a constitutional aim. While the party embarked on a wide-ranging review of its priorities and goals, Gwynfor Evans fought a successful campaign (including the threat of a hunger strike) to oblige the Conservative government to fulfill its promise to establish S4C, a Welsh-language television station.[36] In 1984 Dafydd Elis-Thomas was elected president, defeating Dafydd Iwan, a move that saw the party shift to the left. Ieuan Wyn Jones (later Plaid Cymru leader) captured Ynys Môn from the Conservatives in 1987. In 1989 Dafydd Wigley once again assumed the presidency of the party.

1990s
In the 1992 general election the party added a fourth MP, Cynog Dafis, when he gained Ceredigion and Pembroke North from the Liberal Democrats. Dafis was endorsed by the local branch of the Green Party. The party's vote share recovered to 9.9% at the 1997 general election.

In 1997, following the election of a Labour government committed to devolution for Wales, a further referendum was narrowly won, establishing the National Assembly for Wales. Plaid Cymru became the main opposition to the ruling Labour Party, with 17 seats to Labour's 28. In doing so, it appeared to have broken out of its rural Welsh-speaking heartland, and captured traditionally strong Labour areas in industrial South Wales.

Assembly era
First National Assembly, 1999–2003
In the 1999 election Plaid Cymru gained seats in traditional Labour areas such as Rhondda, Islwyn and Llanelli, achieving by far its highest share of the vote in any Wales-wide election. While Plaid Cymru regarded itself as the natural beneficiary of devolution, others attributed its performance in large part to the travails of the Labour Party[who?], whose nomination for Assembly First Secretary, Ron Davies, was forced to stand down in an alleged sex scandal. The ensuing leadership battle, won by Alun Michael, did much to damage Labour, and thus aided Plaid Cymru, whose leader was the more popular and higher profile Dafydd Wigley. The Labour Party's UK national leadership was seen to interfere in the contest and deny the popular Rhodri Morgan victory.[37] Less than two months later, in elections to the European parliament, Labour support slumped further, and Plaid Cymru came within 2.5% of achieving the largest share of the vote in Wales. Under the new system of proportional representation, the party also gained two MEPs.

Plaid Cymru then developed political problems of its own. Dafydd Wigley resigned, citing health problems but amid rumours of a plot against him.[38] His successor, Ieuan Wyn Jones, struggled to impose his authority, particularly over controversial remarks made by a councillor, Seimon Glyn.[39] At the same time, Labour leader and First Minister Alun Michael was replaced by Rhodri Morgan.

In the 2001 general election, notwithstanding Plaid Cymru recording its highest-ever vote share in a general election, 14.3%, the party lost Wyn Jones's former seat of Ynys Môn to Albert Owen, although it gained Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, where Adam Price was elected.

Second National Assembly, 2003–07
The Assembly elections of May 2003 saw the party's representation drop from 17 to 12, with the seats gained in the 1999 election falling again to Labour and the party's share of the vote declining to 21%. Plaid Cymru narrowly remained the second-largest party in the National Assembly ahead of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Forward Wales.

On 15 September 2003 folk-singer and county councillor Dafydd Iwan was elected as Plaid Cymru's president. Ieuan Wyn Jones, who had resigned from his dual role as president and Assembly group leader following the losses in the 2003 Assembly election, was re-elected in the latter role. Elfyn Llwyd remained the Plaid Cymru leader in the Westminster Parliament. Under Iwan's presidency the party formally adopted a policy of independence for Wales within Europe.

The 2004 local election saw the party lose control of the two South Wales councils it gained in 1999, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Caerphilly, while retaining its stronghold of Gwynedd in the north-west. The results enabled the party to claim a greater number of ethnic minority councillors than all the other political parties in Wales combined,[40] along with gains in authorities such as Cardiff and Swansea, where Plaid Cymru representation had been minimal. In the European Parliament elections of the same year, the party's vote share fell to 17.4%, and the reduction in the number of Welsh MEPs saw its representation reduced to one.
In the general election of 5 May 2005, Plaid Cymru lost the Ceredigion seat to the Liberal Democrats; this result was a disappointment to Plaid, who had hoped to gain Ynys Môn. Overall therefore, Plaid Cymru's Parliamentary representation fell to three seats, the lowest number for the party since 1992. The party's share of the vote fell to 12.6%.[41]

In 2006, the party voted constitutional changes to formally designate the party's leader in the assembly as its overall leader, with Ieuan Wyn Jones being restored to the full leadership and Dafydd Iwan becoming head of the voluntary wing[clarification needed] of the party. 2006 also saw the party unveil a radical change of image, opting to use "Plaid" as the party's name, although "Plaid Cymru — the Party of Wales" would remain the official title. The party changed its logo in 2006, from the traditional green and red triban (three peaks) used since 1933, to a yellow Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambrica).[42]

Third National Assembly, 2007–2011
In the National Assembly election of 3 May 2007, Plaid Cymru increased its number of seats from 12 to 15, regaining Llanelli, gaining one additional list seat and winning the newly created constituency of Aberconwy. The 2007 election also saw Plaid Cymru's Mohammad Asghar become the first ethnic minority candidate elected to the Welsh Assembly.[43] The party's share of the vote increased to 22.4%.

After weeks of negotiations involving all four parties in the Assembly, Plaid Cymru and Labour agreed to form a coalition government. Their agreed "One Wales" programme included a commitment for both parties to campaign for a Yes vote in a referendum on full law-making powers for the Assembly, to be held at a time of the Welsh Assembly Government's choosing.[44] Ieuan Wyn Jones was subsequently confirmed as Deputy First Minister of Wales[45] and Minister for the Economy and Transport. Rhodri Glyn Thomas was appointed Heritage Minister. He later stood down, and Alun Ffred Jones took over. Ceredigion AM Elin Jones was appointed to the Rural Affairs brief in the new 10-member cabinet. Jocelyn Davies became Deputy Minister for Housing, and later, Regeneration.

In the 2010 general election, Plaid returned three MPs to Westminster. They took part in the Yes for Wales cross-party campaign for the March 2011 referendum.

Fourth National Assembly, 2011–16
In the 2011 National Assembly election Plaid slipped from second place to third, being overtaken by the Welsh Conservative Party and losing its deputy leader Helen Mary Jones. The party held an inquiry into the election result.[46] The internal investigation led to the adoption of wide-ranging changes to its constitution, including a streamlining of the leadership structure.[47]

In May 2011, Ieuan Wyn Jones announced he would stand down as leader within the first half of the Assembly term.[48] A leadership election was held in which three candidates eventually stood: Elin Jones, Dafydd Elis-Thomas and Leanne Wood;[49] Simon Thomas withdrew his candidacy before ballots were cast.[50]

On 15 March 2012, Plaid Cymru elected Leanne Wood as its new leader. She received 55% of the vote, over second-placed Elin Jones with 41%.[51] Wood was the party's first female leader, and its first not to be a fluent Welsh speaker.[52][53] Soon after her election as leader she appointed former MP Adam Price to head an economic commission for the party "focussed on bringing together tailor-made policies in order to transform our economy".[54][55] On 1 May 2012, it was confirmed Leanne Wood would not be taking the £23,000 pay increase that every other party leader in the Assembly receives.[56]

On 12 November 2012, Wood announced she would be abandoning her relatively safe list seat to stand in a constituency at the 2016 National Assembly elections;[57] she later confirmed she would contest the Rhondda.[58] Adam Price was subsequently selected as the party's candidate for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr.[59] Lindsay Whittle confirmed he would contest the Caerffili constituency.[60]

On 20 June 2013, former party leader Ieuan Wyn Jones stood down from the Assembly as the member for Ynys Môn.[61] Plaid Cymru's candidate Rhun ap Iorwerth was elected as the new Assembly Member for the constituency, receiving 12,601 votes (a 58% share) with a majority of 9,166 over the Labour candidate.[62]

Fifth National Assembly, 2016–present
Following the 2016 Welsh Assembly elections, having gained one seat, Plaid Cymru became the Assembly's second-largest party and briefly became the official opposition to the Welsh Government with 12 seats.[63] As of February 2018 Plaid Cymru had ten Assembly Members, following the resignation of Dafydd Elis-Thomas in 2016[64][65] and the permanent expulsion from Plaid's Assembly group of Neil McEvoy in 2018.[66]

Despite campaigning to leave in 1975,[67] Plaid campaigned for a remain vote in the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU.[68] Wales voted 52.5% in favour of leave.[69]

Immediately following the referendum, Leanne Wood publicly stated that voters 'must be respected' and criticised calls for a second EU referendum.[70] Since then Plaid Cymru has changed its policy, and now supports a People's Vote.[71]

In September 2018, Adam Price won the party's leadership election, defeating the incumbent Leanne Wood and fellow challenger Rhun ap Iorwerth.

In the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election Plaid Cymru decided not to put up a candidate, and instead to support the Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds in order to maximise the chance of an anti-Brexit candidate winning.[72]

Undeb Credyd Plaid Cymru
Undeb Credyd Plaid Cymru Credit Union Limited is a savings and loans co-operative established for party members in 1986.[73] Based in Roath, Cardiff, it is a member of the Association of British Credit Unions Limited.[74] The credit union is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the PRA. Ultimately, like the banks and building societies, members’ savings are protected against business failure by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Dennis Skinner

Dennis Edward Skinner (born 11 February 1932) is a British Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolsover from 1970 to 2019. Skinner became the longest continuously serving Labour MP on 16 December 2017.[1] He was Chairman of the Labour Party for a year from 1988 to 1989 and served as a member of Labour's National Executive Committee, with brief breaks, for thirty years.[2]

He is known for his left-wing views[3] and an acerbic wit.[4] He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs.
Early life and career
Born in Clay Cross, Derbyshire, Skinner is the third of nine children. His father Edward Skinner was a coal miner who was sacked after the 1926 general strike,[6] and his mother Lucy was a cleaner.[7] In 1942, at the age of 10, Skinner won a scholarship to attend Tupton Hall Grammar School after passing the eleven-plus a year early.[7] In 1949, he went on to work as a coal miner at Parkhouse colliery, working there until its closure in 1962.[8][9] He then worked at Glapwell colliery near Chesterfield.[7]

In 1964, at the age of 32, he became the youngest-ever president of the Derbyshire region of the National Union of Mineworkers. After working for 20 years as a miner,[10] he became a member of Derbyshire County Council[10] and a Clay Cross councillor in the 1960s.[9] In 1967, he attended Ruskin College, Oxford, after completing a course run by the National Union of Mineworkers at the University of Sheffield.[7][11]

Parliamentary career
In 1956, Skinner joined the Labour Party.[7] He was first elected as MP for the safe Labour seat of Bolsover at the 1970 general election and has retained it until 2019. He was a strong supporter of the National Union of Mineworkers and their leader Arthur Scargill in the 1984-85 miners' strike.[12] Skinner refused to accept a parliamentary salary in excess of miners' wages,[13] and during the miners' strike he donated his wages to the NUM.[14]

Skinner has voted for equalisation of the age of consent, civil partnerships, adoption rights for same-sex couples, to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and for same sex couples to marry,[15] and has a strongly pro-choice stance on abortion. On 20 January 1989, he talked out a move to reduce the number of weeks at which termination of a pregnancy can be legally performed in Britain by moving a writ for the Richmond by-election.[16] On 7 June 1985, he talked out a bill by Enoch Powell which would have banned stem cell research by moving a writ for a by-election in Brecon and Radnor.[17][18][19] Skinner later described this as his proudest political moment.[20]

In 2000, Skinner denounced former ally Ken Livingstone, then serving as a Labour MP. Livingstone had failed to win the party's nomination to be a candidate for Mayor of London, and had then decided to run as an independent candidate instead, urging his supporters to help Green Party candidates get elected. Skinner said that Livingstone had betrayed Labour Party activists in his Brent East constituency, whom he described as having fought for him "like tigers" when his majority had been small: "He tells them he's going to be the Labour candidate, then he lies to them. To me that's as low as you can get". He contrasted Livingstone with the official Labour candidate, Frank Dobson, saying that Dobson was "a bloke and a half... not a prima donna ... not someone with an ego as big as a house". Skinner said Livingstone would "hit the headlines, but you'll never be able to trust him because he's broken his pledge and his loyalty to his party. The personality cult of the ego does not work down a coal mine and it does not work in the Labour Party".[21]

Conversely, despite his left-wing views Skinner had a positive relationship with Prime Minister Tony Blair, a leading figure on the right of the party, stemming from advice that Skinner gave Blair regarding public speaking.[20] During a session of Prime Minister's Questions in February 2018, he described the Blair and Brown ministries as a "golden period" for the NHS.[22] However, after Blair advised pro-remain Labour supporters who felt that the party's line on Brexit was too ambiguous to vote for explicitly pro-remain parties in the 2019 European Parliament election, Skinner strongly criticised him in comments to the Morning Star in May 2019, describing Blair as a "destructive force" who was "try(ing) to destroy the Labour Party so people keep talking about his reign" and stating that he "went into Iraq and destroyed himself. He helped David Cameron and Theresa May into power. You're talking about a man who made a mess of it."[23]

In 2003, Skinner was among the quarter of Labour MPs who voted against the Iraq War; he later rebelled against the party line when he voted against government policy to allow terror suspects to be detained without trial for up to 90 days. In 2007, Skinner and 88 other Labour MPs voted against the Labour government's policy of renewing the Trident Nuclear Missile System.[24]

Skinner supported David Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election, which was won by his brother Ed Miliband by a very small margin.[25] In March 2011, he was one of 15 MPs[26] who voted against British participation in NATO's Libya intervention.
In 2014, he was voted off Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC).[7] In the same year, he stated that he has never sent an email and does not have a Twitter account.[27]

Skinner was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.[28] Shortly after Corbyn was elected as leader, Skinner was returned to the NEC.[29] He later supported Corbyn, alongside the majority of Labour MPs, in voting against the extension of RAF airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria in December 2015.[30][31]

Skinner voted for Britain to leave the European Union[32] and favours outright abolition of the House of Lords.[33] He stepped down from the NEC in October 2016.[34]

Following the death of Sir Gerald Kaufman, Skinner became the oldest serving MP, but did not become Father of the House despite being elected to parliament on the same day as Kaufman and Conservative MP Kenneth Clarke in 1970. This is due to the way seniority is calculated; when two or more MPs were elected on the same day, the one who was sworn in first is considered to be the more senior. Skinner stated in 2015 that he would not accept the honorific title.[35]

Skinner was defeated in the 2019 election, losing to Conservative candidate Mark Fletcher.

Suspensions
Skinner has been suspended from Parliament on at least ten occasions, usually for "unparliamentary language" when attacking opponents. Notable infractions have included:

Twice in 1984, once for calling David Owen a "pompous sod" (and only agreeing to withdraw "pompous"),[36] and the second time for stating Margaret Thatcher would "bribe judges".[37]
In 1992, referring to the Minister of Agriculture John Gummer as "a little squirt of a Minister" and "a slimy wart on Margaret Thatcher's nose".[36]
In 1995, accusing the Major government of a "crooked deal" to sell off Britain's coal mines.[36]
In 2005, when referring to the economic record of the Conservatives in the 1980s, making the remark, "The only thing that was growing then were the lines of coke in front of Boy George and the rest of the Tories", a reference to allegations originally published in the Sunday Mirror of cocaine use by the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne (though, in the Commons, Skinner referred to the News of the World).
In 2006, accusing Deputy Speaker Sir Alan Haselhurst of leniency towards remarks made by opposition frontbencher and future Prime Minister Theresa May "because she's a Tory".[38]
In 2016, for referring to Prime Minister David Cameron as "Dodgy Dave" in relation to Cameron's tax affairs
Commons attendance
During his tenure in the Commons, Skinner would usually sit on the first seat of the front bench below the gangway in the Commons (known as the 'Awkward Squad Bench' because it is where rebel Labour Party MPs have traditionally sat) in a tweed jacket (whilst most other MPs wear suits) and signature red tie.[citation needed] He is known as 'the Beast of Bolsover':[10] according to Skinner he earned the nickname for his behaviour in a tribute debate in the Commons following the death of former Conservative Prime Minister Anthony Eden[61] - "They were making speeches about the wonder of Anthony Eden, so I got up and talked about miners and people seriously injured and dead in the pits and the £200 given to the widow. There was booing and then all the Tories left and the papers had a go, some serious ones".[20]

Nature of the Beast documentary
Main article: Dennis Skinner: Nature of the Beast
The first documentary about Dennis Skinner sanctioned by him, Nature of the Beast, was completed in 2017 by production company Shut Out The Light. Three years in the making, the film had its premiere at the Derby QUAD Cinema on 8 September 2017, before a UK cinema release. The documentary traces Skinner's rise to political icon status and covers his working-class upbringing, his family influences and his hobbies away from "The Palace of Varieties". Skinner's four surviving brothers and several of his Bolsover constituents were interviewed for the documentary.[7]

Personal life
In 1960, Skinner married Mary Parker, with whom he has three children who all attended his old school, and graduated from the University of Manchester. He and his wife separated in 1989. His current partner is former researcher Lois Blasenheim.[7]

In 1999, Skinner was diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer and subsequently had surgery to remove a malignant tumour from his bladder.[7] In 2003, he recovered from a double heart bypass operation.[7]

Skinner's mother was diagnosed[62] with Alzheimer's disease prior to her death[63] in the 1980s.[62] Skinner sang to his late mother when she was diagnosed with the disease and was inspired by her ability to recall old songs. Since 2008, he has visited care homes in Derbyshire to sing to elderly patients with dementia

Exchange Rate

In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another. It is also regarded as the value of one country's currency in relation to another currency.[1] For example, an interbank exchange rate of 114 Japanese yen to the United States dollar means that ¥114 will be exchanged for each US$1 or that US$1 will be exchanged for each ¥114. In this case it is said that the price of a dollar in relation to yen is ¥114, or equivalently that the price of a yen in relation to dollars is $1/114.The government has the authority to change exchange rate when needed.

Exchange rates are determined in the foreign exchange market,[2] which is open to a wide range of different types of buyers and sellers, and where currency trading is continuous: 24 hours a day except weekends, i.e. trading from 20:15 GMT on Sunday until 22:00 GMT Friday. The spot exchange rate refers to the current exchange rate. The forward exchange rate refers to an exchange rate that is quoted and traded today but for delivery and payment on a specific future date.

In the retail currency exchange market, different buying and selling rates will be quoted by money dealers. Most trades are to or from the local currency. The buying rate is the rate at which money dealers will buy foreign currency, and the selling rate is the rate at which they will sell that currency. The quoted rates will incorporate an allowance for a dealer's margin (or profit) in trading, or else the margin may be recovered in the form of a commission or in some other way. Different rates may also be quoted for cash, a documentary form or electronically. The higher rate on documentary transactions has been justified as compensating for the additional time and cost of clearing the document. On the other hand, cash is available for resale immediately, but brings security, storage, and transportation costs, and the cost of tying up capital in a stock of banknotes (bills).
The retail exchange market
Currency for international travel and cross-border payments is predominantly purchased from banks, foreign exchange brokerages and various forms of bureaux de change. These retail outlets source currency from the inter-bank markets, which are valued by the Bank for International Settlements at 5.3 trillion US dollars per day.[3] The purchase is made at the spot contract rate. Retail customers will be charged, in the form of commission or otherwise, to cover the provider's costs and generate a profit. One form of charge is the use of an exchange rate that is less favourable than the wholesale spot rate.[4] The difference between retail buying and selling prices is referred to as the bid–ask spread

Quotations
There is a market convention that determines which is the fixed currency and which is the variable currency. In most parts of the world, the order is: EUR – GBP – AUD – NZD – USD – others.[citation needed] Accordingly, in a conversion from EUR to AUD, EUR is the fixed currency, AUD is the variable currency and the exchange rate indicates how many Australian dollars would be paid or received for 1 Euro. Cyprus and Malta, which were quoted as the base[clarification needed] to the USD and others, were recently removed from this list when they joined the Eurozone.

In some areas of Europe and in the retail market in the United Kingdom, EUR and GBP are reversed so that GBP is quoted as the fixed currency to the euro. In order to determine which is the fixed currency when neither currency is on the above list (i.e. both are "other"), market convention is to use the fixed currency which gives an exchange rate greater than 1.000. This reduces rounding issues and the need to use excessive numbers of decimal places. There are some exceptions to this rule: for example, the Japanese often quote their currency as the base to other currencies.

Quotation using a country's home currency as the price currency is known as direct quotation or price quotation (from that country's perspective)[clarification needed] For example, EUR 0.8989 = USD 1.00 in the Eurozone[5] and is used in most countries.

Quotation using a country's home currency as the unit currency[clarification needed] (for example, US$1.11 = EUR 1.00 in the Eurozone) is known as indirect quotation or quantity quotation and is used in British newspapers ; it is also common in Australia, New Zealand and the Eurozone.

Using direct quotation, if the home currency is strengthening (that is, appreciating, or becoming more valuable) then the exchange rate number decreases. Conversely, if the foreign currency is strengthening and the home currency is depreciating, the exchange rate number increases.

Market convention from the early 1980s to 2006 was that most currency pairs were quoted to four decimal places for spot transactions and up to six decimal places for forward outrights or swaps. (The fourth decimal place is usually referred to as a "pip"). An exception to this was exchange rates with a value of less than 1.000 which were usually quoted to five or six decimal places. Although there is no fixed rule, exchange rates numerically greater than around 20 were usually quoted to three decimal places and exchange rates greater than 80 were quoted to two decimal places. Currencies over 5000 were usually quoted with no decimal places (for example, the former Turkish Lira). e.g. (GBPOMR : 0.765432 - : 1.4436 - EURJPY : 165.29). In other words, quotes are given with five digits. Where rates are below 1, quotes frequently include five decimal places.[6]

In 2005, Barclays Capital broke with convention by quoting spot exchange rates with five or six decimal places on their electronic dealing platform.[7] The contraction of spreads (the difference between the bid and ask rates) arguably necessitated finer pricing and gave the banks the ability to try and win transactions on multibank trading platforms where all banks may otherwise have been quoting the same price. A number of other banks have now followed this system.

Exchange rate regime
Each country determines the exchange rate regime that will apply to its currency. For example, the currency may be free-floating, pegged (fixed), or a hybrid.

If a currency is free-floating, its exchange rate is allowed to vary against that of other currencies and is determined by the market forces of supply and demand. Exchange rates for such currencies are likely to change almost constantly as quoted on financial markets, mainly by banks, around the world.

A movable or adjustable peg system is a system of fixed exchange rates, but with a provision for the revaluation (usually devaluation) of a currency. For example, between 1994 and 2005, the Chinese yuan renminbi (RMB) was pegged to the United States dollar at RMB 8.2768 to $1. China was not the only country to do this; from the end of World War II until 1967, Western European countries all maintained fixed exchange rates with the US dollar based on the Bretton Woods system.[8] But that system had to be abandoned in favor of floating, market-based regimes due to market pressures and speculation, according to President Richard M. Nixon in a speech on August 15, 1971, in what is known as the Nixon Shock.

Still, some governments strive to keep their currency within a narrow range. As a result, currencies become over-valued or under-valued, leading to excessive trade deficits or surpluses.

Exchange rate classification
From the perspective of bank foreign exchange trading
Buying rate: Also known as the purchase price, it is the price used by the foreign exchange bank to buy foreign currency from the customer. In general, the exchange rate where the foreign currency is converted to a smaller number of domestic currencies is the buying rate, which indicates how much the country's currency is required to buy a certain amount of foreign exchange.
Selling rate: Also known as the foreign exchange selling price, it refers to the exchange rate used by the bank to sell foreign exchange to customers. It indicates how much the country's currency needs to be recovered if the bank sells a certain amount of foreign exchange.
Middle rate: The average of the bid price and the ask price. Commonly used in newspapers, magazines or economic analysis.
According to the length of delivery after foreign exchange transactions
Spot exchange rate: Refers to the exchange rate of spot foreign exchange transactions. That is, after the foreign exchange transaction is completed, the exchange rate in Delivery within two working days. The exchange rate that is generally listed on the foreign exchange market is generally referred to as the spot exchange rate unless it specifically indicates the forward exchange rate.
Forward exchange rate: To be delivered in a certain period of time in the future, but beforehand, the buyer and the seller will enter into a contract to reach an agreement. When the delivery date is reached, both parties to the agreement will deliver the transaction at the exchange rate and amount of the reservation. Forward foreign exchange trading is an appointment-based transaction, which is due to the different time the foreign exchange purchaser needs for foreign exchange funds and the introduction of foreign exchange risk. The forward exchange rate is based on the spot exchange rate, which is represented by the “premium”, “discount”, and “parity” of the spot exchange rate.
According to the method of setting the exchange rate
Basic rate: Usually choose a key convertible currency that is the most commonly used in international economic transactions and accounts for the largest proportion of foreign exchange reserves. Compare it with the currency of the country and set the exchange rate. This exchange rate is the basic exchange rate. The key currency generally refers to a world currency, which is widely used for pricing, settlement, reserve currency, freely convertible, and internationally accepted currency.
Cross rate: After the basic exchange rate is worked out, the exchange rate of the local currency against other foreign currencies can be calculated through the basic exchange rate. The resulting exchange rate is the cross exchange rate.
Other classifications
According to the payment method in foreign exchange transactions
Telegraphic exchange rate
Mail transfer rate
Demand draft rate
According to the level of foreign exchange controls
Official rate: The official exchange rate is the rate of exchange announced by a country's foreign exchange administration. Usually used by countries with strict foreign exchange controls.
Market rate: The market exchange rate refers to the real exchange rate for trading foreign exchange in the free market. It fluctuates with changes in foreign exchange supply and demand conditions.
According to the international exchange rate regime
Fixed exchange rate: It means that the exchange rate between a country's currency and another country's currency is basically fixed, and the fluctuation of exchange rate is very small.
Floating exchange rate: It means that the monetary authorities of a country do not stipulate the official exchange rate of the country's currency against other currencies, nor does it have any upper or lower limit of exchange rate fluctuations. The local currency is determined by the supply and demand relationship of the foreign exchange market, and it is free to rise and fall.
Whether inflation is included
Nominal exchange rate: an exchange rate that is officially announced or marketed which does not consider inflation.
Real exchange rate: The nominal exchange rate eliminating inflation
Factors affecting the change of exchange rate
Balance of payments: When a country has a large international balance of payments deficit or trade deficit, it means that its foreign exchange earnings are less than foreign exchange expenditures and its demand for foreign exchange exceeds its supply, so its foreign exchange rate rises, and its currency depreciates.
Interest rate level: Interest rates are the cost and profit of borrowing capital. When a country raises its interest rate or its domestic interest rate is higher than the foreign interest rate, it will cause capital inflow, thereby increasing the demand for domestic currency, allowing the currency to appreciate and the foreign exchange depreciate.
Inflation factor: The inflation rate of a country rises, the purchasing power of money declines, the paper currency depreciates internally, and then the foreign currency appreciates. If both countries have inflation, the currencies of countries with high inflation will depreciate against those with low inflation. The latter is a relative revaluation of the former.
Fiscal and monetary policy: Although the influence of monetary policy on the exchange rate changes of a country's government is indirect, it is also very important. In general, the huge fiscal revenue and expenditure deficit caused by expansionary fiscal and monetary policies and inflation will devalue the domestic currency. The tightening fiscal and monetary policies will reduce fiscal expenditures, stabilize the currency, and increase the value of the domestic currency.
Venture capital: If speculators expect a certain currency to appreciate, they will buy a large amount of that currency, which will cause the exchange rate of that currency to rise. Conversely, if speculators expect a certain currency to depreciate, they will sell off a large amount of the currency, resulting in speculation. The currency exchange rate immediately fell. Speculation is an important factor in the short-term fluctuations in the exchange rate of the foreign exchange market.
Government market intervention: When exchange rate fluctuations in the foreign exchange market adversely affect a country's economy, trade, or the government needs to achieve certain policy goals through exchange rate adjustments, monetary authorities can participate in currency trading, buying or selling local or foreign currencies in large quantities in the market. The foreign exchange supply and demand has caused the exchange rate to change.
Economic strength of a country: In general, high economic growth rates are not conducive to the local currency's performance in the foreign exchange market in the short term, but in the long run, they strongly support the strong momentum of the local currency.

Emerging markets
Research on target zones has mainly concentrated on the benefit of stability of exchange rates for industrial countries, but some studies have argued that volatile bilateral exchange rates between industrial countries are in part responsible for financial crisis in emerging markets. According to this view the ability of emerging market economies to compete is weakened because many of the currencies are tied to the US dollar in various fashions either implicitly or explicitly, so fluctuations such as the appreciation of the US dollar to the yen or deutsche Mark have contributed to destabilizing shocks. Most of these countries are net debtors whose debt is denominated in one of the G3 currencies.[9]

In September 2019 Argentina restricted the ability to buy US dollars. Mauricio Macri in 2015 campaigned on a promise to lift restrictions put in place by the left-wing government including the capital controls which have been used in Argentina to manage economic instability. When inflation rose above 20 percent transactions denominated in dollars became commonplace as Argentinians moved away from using the peso. In 2011 the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner restricted the purchase of dollars leading to a rise in black market dollar purchases. The controls were rolled back after Macri took office and Argentina issued dollar denominated bonds, but when various factors led to a loss in the value of the peso relative to the dollar leading to the restoration of capital controls to prevent additional depreciation amidst peso selloffs.[10]

Fluctuations in exchange rates
A market-based exchange rate will change whenever the values of either of the two component currencies change. A currency becomes more valuable whenever demand for it is greater than the available supply. It will become less valuable whenever demand is less than available supply (this does not mean people no longer want money, it just means they prefer holding their wealth in some other form, possibly another currency).

Increased demand for a currency can be due to either an increased transaction demand for money or an increased speculative demand for money. The transaction demand is highly correlated to a country's level of business activity, gross domestic product (GDP), and employment levels. The more people that are unemployed, the less the public as a whole will spend on goods and services. Central banks typically have little difficulty adjusting the available money supply to accommodate changes in the demand for money due to business transactions.

Speculative demand is much harder for central banks to accommodate, which they influence by adjusting interest rates. A speculator may buy a currency if the return (that is the interest rate) is high enough. In general, the higher a country's interest rates, the greater will be the demand for that currency. It has been argued[by whom?] that such speculation can undermine real economic growth, in particular since large currency speculators may deliberately create downward pressure on a currency by shorting in order to force that central bank to buy their own currency to keep it stable. (When that happens, the speculator can buy the currency back after it depreciates, close out their position, and thereby make a profit.)[citation needed]

For carrier companies shipping goods from one nation to another, exchange rates can often impact them severely. Therefore, most carriers have a CAF charge to account for these fluctuations.[11][12]

Purchasing power of currency
The real exchange rate (RER) is the purchasing power of a currency relative to another at current exchange rates and prices. It is the ratio of the number of units of a given country's currency necessary to buy a market basket of goods in the other country, after acquiring the other country's currency in the foreign exchange market, to the number of units of the given country's currency that would be necessary to buy that market basket directly in the given country. There are various ways to measure RER.[13]

Thus the real exchange rate is the exchange rate times the relative prices of a market basket of goods in the two countries. For example, the purchasing power of the US dollar relative to that of the euro is the dollar price of a euro (dollars per euro) times the euro price of one unit of the market basket (euros/goods unit) divided by the dollar price of the market basket (dollars per goods unit), and hence is dimensionless. This is the exchange rate (expressed as dollars per euro) times the relative price of the two currencies in terms of their ability to purchase units of the market basket (euros per goods unit divided by dollars per goods unit). If all goods were freely tradable, and foreign and domestic residents purchased identical baskets of goods, purchasing power parity (PPP) would hold for the exchange rate and GDP deflators (price levels) of the two countries, and the real exchange rate would always equal 1.

The rate of change of the real exchange rate over time for the euro versus the dollar equals the rate of appreciation of the euro (the positive or negative percentage rate of change of the dollars-per-euro exchange rate) plus the inflation rate of the euro minus the inflation rate of the dollar.

Real exchange rate equilibrium and misalignment
The Real Exchange Rate (RER) represents the nominal exchange rate adjusted by the relative price of domestic and foreign goods and services, thus reflecting the competitiveness of a country with respect to the rest of the world.[14] More in detail, an appreciation of the currency or a higher level of domestic inflation drives up the RER, worsening the country's competitiveness and reducing the Current Account (CA). On the other hand, a currency depreciation generates an opposite effect, improving the country's CA.[15]

There is evidence that the RER generally reaches a steady level in the long-term, and that this process is faster in small open economies characterized by fixed exchange rates.[15] Any substantial and persistent RER deviation from its long-run equilibrium level, the so-called RER misalignment, has shown to produce negative impacts on a country's balance of payments.[16] An overvalued RER means that the current RER is above its equilibrium value, whereas an undervalued RER indicates the contrary.[17] Specifically, a prolonged RER overvaluation is widely considered as an early sign of an upcoming crisis, due to the fact that the country becomes vulnerable to both speculative attacks and currency crisis, as happened in Thailand during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.[18] On the other side, a protracted RER undervaluation usually generates pressure on domestic prices, changing the consumers’ consumption incentives and, so, misallocating resources between tradable and non-tradable sectors.[16]

Given that RER misalignment and, in particular overvaluation, can undermine the country's export-oriented development strategy, the equilibrium RER measurement is crucial for policymakers.[14] Unfortunately, this variable cannot be observed. The most common method in order to estimate the equilibrium RER is the universally accepted Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) theory, according to which the RER equilibrium level is assumed to remain constant over time. Nevertheless, the equilibrium RER is not a fixed value as it follows the trend of key economic fundamentals,[14] such as different monetary and fiscal policies or asymmetrical shocks between the home country and abroad.[15] Consequently, the PPP doctrine has been largely debated during the years, given that it may signal a natural RER movement towards its new equilibrium as a RER misalignment.

Starting from the 1980s, in order to overcome the limitations of this approach, many researchers tried to find some alternative equilibrium RER measures.[14] Two of the most popular approaches in the economic literature are the Fundamental Equilibrium Exchange Rate (FEER), developed by Williamson (1994),[19] and the Behavioural Equilibrium Exchange Rate (BEER), initially estimated by Clark and MacDonald (1998).[20] The FEER focuses on long-run determinants of the RER, rather than on short-term cyclical and speculative forces.[20] It represents a RER consistent with macroeconomic balance, characterized by the achievement of internal and external balances at the same time. Internal balance is reached when the level of output is in line with both full employment of all available factors of production, and a low and stable rate of inflation.[20] On the other hand, external balance holds when actual and future CA balances are compatible with long-term sustainable net capital flows.[21] Nevertheless, the FEER is viewed as a normative measure of the RER since it is based on some “ideal” economic conditions related to internal and external balances. Particularly, since the sustainable CA position is defined as an exogenous value, this approach has been broadly questioned over time. By contrast, the BEER entails an econometric analysis of the RER behaviour, considering significant RER deviations from its PPP equilibrium level as a consequence of changes in key economic fundamentals. According to this method, the BEER is the RER that results when all the economic fundamentals are at their equilibrium values.[15] Therefore, the total RER misalignment is given by the extent to which economic fundamentals differ from their long-run sustainable levels. In short, the BEER is a more general approach than the FEER, since it is not limited to the long-term perspective, being able to explain RER cyclical movements.[20]

Bilateral vs. effective exchange rate
Bilateral exchange rate involves a currency pair, while an effective exchange rate is a weighted average of a basket of foreign currencies, and it can be viewed as an overall measure of the country's external competitiveness. A nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) is weighted with the inverse of the asymptotic trade weights. A real effective exchange rate (REER) adjusts NEER by appropriate foreign price level and deflates by the home country price level.[13] Compared to NEER, a GDP weighted effective exchange rate might be more appropriate considering the global investment phenomenon.

Parallel exchange rate
In many countries there is a distinction between the official exchange rate for permitted transactions and a parallel exchange rate that responds to excess demand for foreign currency at the official exchange rate. The degree by which the parallel exchange rate exceeds the official exchange rate is known as the parallel premium.[22]

Uncovered interest rate parity
See also: Interest rate parity § Uncovered interest rate parity
Uncovered interest rate parity (UIRP) states that an appreciation or depreciation of one currency against another currency might be neutralized by a change in the interest rate differential. If US interest rates increase while Japanese interest rates remain unchanged then the US dollar should depreciate against the Japanese yen by an amount that prevents arbitrage (in reality the opposite, appreciation, quite frequently happens in the short-term, as explained below). The future exchange rate is reflected into the forward exchange rate stated today. In our example, the forward exchange rate of the dollar is said to be at a discount because it buys fewer Japanese yen in the forward rate than it does in the spot rate. The yen is said to be at a premium.

UIRP showed no proof of working after the 1990s. Contrary to the theory, currencies with high interest rates characteristically appreciated rather than depreciated on the reward of the containment of inflation and a higher-yielding currency.

Balance of payments model
The balance of payments model holds that foreign exchange rates are at an equilibrium level if they produce a stable current account balance. A nation with a trade deficit will experience a reduction in its foreign exchange reserves, which ultimately lowers (depreciates) the value of its currency. A cheaper (undervalued) currency renders the nation's goods (exports) more affordable in the global market while making imports more expensive. After an intermediate period, imports will be forced down and exports to rise, thus stabilizing the trade balance and bring the currency towards equilibrium.

Like purchasing power parity, the balance of payments model focuses largely on tradeable goods and services, ignoring the increasing role of global capital flows. In other words, money is not only chasing goods and services, but to a larger extent, financial assets such as stocks and bonds. Their flows go into the capital account item of the balance of payments, thus balancing the deficit in the current account. The increase in capital flows has given rise to the asset market model effectively.

Asset market model
The increasing volume of trading of financial assets (stocks and bonds) has required a rethink of its impact on exchange rates. Economic variables such as economic growth, inflation and productivity are no longer the only drivers of currency movements. The proportion of foreign exchange transactions stemming from cross border-trading of financial assets has dwarfed the extent of currency transactions generated from trading in goods and services.[23]

The asset market approach views currencies as asset prices traded in an efficient financial market. Consequently, currencies are increasingly demonstrating a strong correlation with other markets, particularly equities.

Like the stock exchange, money can be made (or lost) on trading by investors and speculators in the foreign exchange market. Currencies can be traded at spot and foreign exchange options markets. The spot market represents current exchange rates, whereas options are derivatives of exchange rates.

Manipulation of exchange rates
A country may gain an advantage in international trade if it controls the market for its currency to keep its value low, typically by the national central bank engaging in open market operations in the foreign exchange market. In the early twenty-first century it was widely asserted that the People's Republic of China had been doing this over a long period of time.[24]

Other nations, including Iceland, Japan, Brazil, and so on have had a policy of maintaining a low value of their currencies in the hope of reducing the cost of exports and thus bolstering their economies. A lower exchange rate lowers the price of a country's goods for consumers in other countries, but raises the price of imported goods and services for consumers in the low value currency country.[25]

In general, exporters of goods and services will prefer a lower value for their currencies, while importers will prefer a higher value.

Chuka Umunna

Chuka Harrison Umunna (/ˈtʃʊkə əˈmuːnə/; born 17 October 1978)[2] is a British Liberal Democrat politician and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham from 2010 until 2019, originally elected as the Labour Party candidate. As a former member of the Opposition Shadow Cabinet, he was Shadow Business Secretary from 2011 to 2015. He was a member of the Labour Party until February 2019, when he resigned to form The Independent Group (later renamed Change UK) along with six other MPs. He left Change UK in June 2019 and, after a short time as an independent MP, joined the Liberal Democrats. He stood as the Liberal Democrats' candidate in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency in the 2019 general election, and lost to Nickie Aiken for the Conservatives.

Umunna was educated at St Dunstan's College in Catford in the London Borough of Lewisham, before studying at the University of Manchester and Nottingham Trent University. He worked as a solicitor in the City of London, first for Herbert Smith and then Rochman Landau, while writing articles for the Compass think tank. He joined Labour when the party styled itself as "New Labour" and, when in parliament, he aligned with the party's "Blue Labour" trend, which rejects neoliberal economics. Whilst a member of the Labour Friends of Israel group, he condemned Israel's military courts for their treatment of Palestinian children accused of combat offences.[3]

Umunna was selected as Labour's parliamentary candidate for Streatham in 2008, and was elected MP in the 2010 general election. A supporter of the unsuccessful campaign to retain UK membership of the European Union in the 2016 referendum, he then campaigned for a referendum on the final deal with the EU.

In 2011, Umunna joined the Shadow Cabinet under Ed Miliband's Labour leadership. In Parliament, he sat on the Treasury Select Committee. He was re-elected in the 2015 and 2017 general elections. After Miliband's resignation, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader in 2015; Umunna was critical of the party leadership and resigned from the Shadow Cabinet to sit as a backbencher. Umunna resigned from the Labour Party and joined The Independent Group on 18 February 2019. He was announced as TIG group spokesperson, later styled as Change UK,[4] but left Change UK to sit as an independent MP in June 2019 following "disappointing" results in the 2019 European Elections, in which the party had "failed to get a single MEP elected".[5] One week later, Umunna joined the Liberal Democrats and was appointed the Liberal Democrats' Treasury and Business Spokesman by Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Vince Cable. Umunna said that he had "massively underestimated just how difficult" it was to set up a new party, and that under Britain's first past the post voting system, "there isn't room for more than one centre ground" political party.[6]

In September 2019, in his first major speech to the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference, Umunna argued that Britain is unable to exert its moral authority against authoritarian leaders in the world, at a time that Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to threaten to break the law over Brexit
Family
Umunna was born in London, England. His father, Bennett, of the Nigerian Igbo ethnic group and owner of an import-export business,[8] died in a road accident in Nigeria in 1992.[9] Umunna's mother, Patricia Milmo, a solicitor, is of English-Irish background.[8][10] Umunna's maternal grandparents were Joan Frances (Morley) and Sir Helenus Milmo QC, a High Court judge.[citation needed]

He is married to Alice Sullivan, an employment lawyer.[11] The couple have a daughter, born in 2017.[12] Umunna is also a Crystal Palace F.C. fan.[citation needed]

Education
Umunna was educated at Hitherfield Primary School in Streatham, South London, and the Christ Church Primary School in Brixton Hill. He says his parents felt that the local state school had "given up on him" and as a result had moved him to the boys' independent senior school St Dunstan's College,[13] in Catford in south-east London, where he played the cello.[14] During this period he was also a chorister at Southwark Cathedral.[15] He was awarded an upper second class LLB in English and French Law from the University of Manchester; after graduating he studied for one term at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, before studying for an MA at Nottingham Trent.[16]

He has said that his politics and moral values come from Christianity, but that he is "not majorly religious".[17][18]

Legal career
After university, in 2005, Umunna began work as a solicitor for the City of London firm Herbert Smith. In 2006 he joined Rochman Landau (now Ashfords LLP), specialising in employment law. From 2006, he began to write and provide commentary on the Labour Party, as well as broader social and economic issues, usually in his capacity as a member of the Management Committee of the Labour-aligned Compass pressure group. He also wrote articles for the Financial Times, Tribune, The Voice, The Guardian and the New Statesman, and began to appear on various radio and television programmes as a commentator.[19][20] He founded and edited the online political magazine, The Multicultural Politic.[21] In 2007, he campaigned in support of Jon Cruddas' unsuccessful bid to become Labour deputy leader.[citation needed]

Political career
Member of Parliament
In March 2008, Umunna was adopted as the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for Streatham.[22] At the 2010 general election, he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham with a 3,259 majority;[23] he gave his maiden speech on 2 June 2010.[24] He took a particular interest in economic policy and reform of the City.

Umunna is a member of the Labour Friends of Israel; along with Liam Byrne, he made an official visit to Israel in October 2012 as part of the LFI's UK-Israel Economic Dialogue group.[25][26][27]

Umunna increased his majority to 13,934 at the 2015 General Election, with 53% of the vote in his constituency.[28]

Umunna has described himself as being "One Nation Labour" and has written articles promoting the "Blue Labour" trend.[29][30] He has also described himself as a "modern European social democrat".[11]

Umunna argued that the Conservative-led Coalition Government (2010–2015) should revise its programme of fiscal consolidation, take a tougher stance with the British banking industry and take action to transform the credit ratings agency market.[31][32][33] Umunna was one of 63 Labour MPs to nominate Ed Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election to succeed Gordon Brown as party leader.[34]

Treasury Select Committee
In June 2010, he was elected as a member of the Treasury Select Committee.[35] In January 2011, Umunna questioned the chief executive of Barclays, Bob Diamond, in relation to alleged tax avoidance activities by the bank during which he disclosed that the bank used over 300 subsidiary companies in offshore jurisdictions.[36] In response to a question from Umunna, Diamond stated in February 2011 that Barclays had paid £113m in UK corporation tax in 2009, despite making £11.6bn in profit.[37] Umunna held this position until his appointment to Shadow Minister for Small Business and Enterprise.

Shadow Cabinet
In October 2010, following Miliband's election as party leader, Umunna was appointed to serve as his Parliamentary Private Secretary and, in May 2011, he was appointed to the position of Shadow Minister for Small Business and Enterprise until his promotion to the Shadow Cabinet
Umunna was promoted as Shadow Business Secretary on 7 October 2011, replacing John Denham, who announced his retirement from front-bench politics.[39] Following his appointment, Umunna re-affirmed Labour's commitment to introducing a graduate tax in place of university tuition fees. In January 2012, Umunna joined Ed Miliband and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Reeves in calling on PM David Cameron to block a £1.6m bonus for Stephen Hester, the chief executive officer of the publicly owned Royal Bank of Scotland Group.[40] During 2013, Umunna led claims that the Government's valuation of the Royal Mail during its privatisation had effectively "shortchanged" the taxpayer, a view supported by the significant rise in the share price following the sale and the subsequent summoning of bankers to a parliamentary investigation.[41][42]

In April 2013, Umunna's law firm was linked to favourable updates made on his Wikipedia page in 2007, which included a reference to him being tipped as the "British Barack Obama".[43][44] In the same month, Umunna was criticised for comments he had made in his mid 20s on the exclusive social network ASmallWorld about the West End of London. Conservative MP Chris Heaton-Harris said the 2006 comments, describing people visiting nightclubs in the West End as "trash" and "c-list wannabes", showed a "lack of respect for the public"; Umunna stated that the comments were meant to have been "light-hearted in tone and context" but appreciated that "the choice of words used were not appropriate" and apologised for any offence.[45]

Umunna was accused of hypocrisy for accepting a £20,000 gift from a gambling executive despite campaigning against the spread of betting shops in his constituency and promising new powers to limit them.[46]

In early May 2014, Umunna raised concerns in Parliament[47] and public over the proposed takeover of AstraZeneca, by the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, on the grounds of ensuring British jobs and interests.[48] Despite assurances from Pfizer, Umunna went on to publicly denounce the proposed takeover proclaiming that Pfizer's assurances were "not worth the paper they were written on".[49] The takeover bid eventually fell through in late May 2014 after the AstraZeneca board rejected Pfizer's final offer.[50]

In May 2014, Umunna criticised fellow Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham's report into possible methods of restricting the sale and advertising of alcohol, unhealthy foods, and tobacco. He was quoted as having said that such courses of action as outlined in the report would be seen to be "anti-business and interventionist".[51]

Umunna has argued for a British federal state on multiple occasions, and has said that progressives should not dismiss George Osborne's notion of a "Northern Powerhouse", arguing that greater devolution, federalisation of the UK Labour Party into individual Labour Parties representing each component nation of the UK, greater political autonomy for England in particular, more regional powers and "wholescale federalisation" are necessary to advance the Labour Party.[52][53][54][55]

Leadership election and withdrawal
See also: Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 2015
Following Labour's defeat in the 2015 general election and the resignation of leader Ed Miliband, Umunna was identified as one of the potential candidates to take over as leader of the party.[56] He called for Labour to target Conservatives and "aspirational, middle-class voters",[57] saying that the party needs to be "on the side of those who are doing well."[58] On 12 May, he announced his candidature for the Labour Party leadership election.[59] Three days later, he withdrew from the contest, stating that he had been "uncomfortable" with "the added level of scrutiny that came with being a leadership candidate".[60] On 26 May, he announced his endorsement of Liz Kendall, who was unsuccessful in her bid for the Labour leadership.[61]

Return to the backbenches
In September 2015, following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as the Leader of the Labour Party, Umunna announced his resignation from the Shadow Cabinet and returned to the backbenches, citing differences over the Brexit referendum and issues of collective ministerial responsibility.[62][63]

Umunna supported "Remain" in the Brexit referendum.[64] His constituency voted with the highest proportion of votes to remain, with 79.5%. Following the victory for the Leave campaign, Umunna proposed an amendment to the bill to trigger Article 50 calling upon the government to investigate spending £350 million a week on the NHS, which was defeated by the government.[65][66] He subsequently voted for the unmodified bill to leave the EU, writing with Wes Streeting that "as democrats we must abide by the national result".[67] In the 2017 general election campaign Umunna opposed a second referendum on Brexit.[12]

Following his re-election in the 2017 general election, Umunna proposed a rebel amendment to the Queen's Speech calling upon the government to "rule out withdrawal from the EU without a deal" and "set out proposals to remain within the Customs Union and Single Market”.[68] Three Labour frontbenchers were sacked for supporting the defeated amendment, which the Labour leadership argued conflicted with their manifesto commitment to end freedom of movement.[69]

On 15 April 2018, Umunna attended the launch event of the People's Vote, a campaign group calling for a public vote on the final Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union.[70] Umunna favours a second referendum on Brexit. Umunna wrote that the campaign to leave the EU lied during the campaign and also broke the law spending more money than was allowed. Umunna has stated that the British people now know the truth and should have a second say over whether the UK leaves the European Union. In July 2018, Umunna wrote, "If the proposals which the PM is pursuing feel unacceptable to the majority of the electorate, that says something. People voted to leave and to remain for very different reasons, but it’s nonsense to say that every single person who voted for Brexit in the EU referendum did so because they unanimously agreed on leaving the single market and the customs union, putting the Good Friday Agreement at risk, garnering no extra money for the NHS (contrary to what they were told) and potentially continuing years of austerity."[71]

In August 2018, The Guardian reported that "Umunna and fellow Labour MP Chris Leslie are widely believed to be laying the groundwork for the creation of a new [political] party although both have denied this."[72] In October 2018, it was announced that Umunna would serve as the chairman of a new centrist think tank called Progressive Centre UK. It was revealed that he would be earning £65,000 a year for his work on the advisory board.[73]

Change UK
On 18 February 2019, Umunna and six other MPs (Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker, and Ann Coffey) quit Labour in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership to form The Independent Group (later Change UK).[74] The Independent Group named Umunna as its Spokesman on 28 February 2019.[75]

On 24 May 2019, Umunna wrote in the i newspaper that Change UK would be open to a pro-EU pact with the Liberal Democrats in order to unite the Remain vote.[76][77] On 4 June, after Change UK's poor results in the EU election, Umunna left the party with five of its other MPs who did not wish for Change UK to stand candidates at future elections.[78][79] Subsequently, Change UK's new leader, Anna Soubry, said that Umunna had made a "serious mistake" in leaving the party.[80][81]

Liberal Democrats
On 13 June 2019, Umunna announced to The Times that he would be joining the Liberal Democrats.[82] He told the BBC that he was "wrong" to think "millions of politically homeless people wanted a new party", while referring to moving from Change UK. He also said that he "massively underestimated just how difficult it is to set up a fully fledged new party without an existing infrastructure", after Change UK received a mere 3.4% of the vote in the EU elections, far behind the Liberal Democrats' 20%.[83] Though Umunna had previously been publicly critical of the Liberal Democrats for "enabling Tory austerity" during the 2010 to 2015 coalition government, he told the BBC that "things have changed." He also speculated that a "a good handful" of other MPs may defect to the Liberal Democrats.[84]

At the 2019 United Kingdom general election, Umunna stood in Cities of London and Westminster, and lost.[85] Helen Thompson replaced him as the Lib Dem candidate in Streatham, and also lost

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