Kate Osamor

Ofunne Olive Kate Osamor (born 15 August 1968), known as Kate Ofunne Osamor, is a British Labour Co-operative politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edmonton since May 2015. In June 2016, She was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

Early life and career
Osamor was born to Nigerian parents in 1968 and grew up in Haringey, north London. Her mother Martha Osamor (Oburotha), who came to Britain when she was young, was a political activist and a member of the Black Sections in the Labour Party in the 1980s who was selected as Labour candidate for the 1989 Vauxhall by-election by the local constituency party, but was replaced by Kate Hoey at the behest of the Labour leadership.

Osamor was educated at Creighton Comprehensive School and read Third World Studies at the University of East London. After graduating, she worked for The Big Issue, a magazine sold by the homeless. She then worked for 15 years in the NHS, and was a GP practice manager before becoming an MP.

Political career
Osamor is a Labour Party member, community and trade union activist, and a trustee on a women's charity based in Edmonton Green. In 2014, she was elected a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party.

In the 2015 General Election, Osamor was selected as the candidate for Edmonton following the retirement of its Labour MP Andy Love. Osamor retained the seat for her party with 25,388 votes, increasing Labour's majority from 9,613 to 15,419.

Osamor was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.

On 14 January 2016, she was appointed by Corbyn to the Official Opposition frontbench as Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, joining Cat Smith and Kate Green in the same role.

On 27 June 2016, after the resignations of dozens of Labour's ministerial team because of disquiet over Corbyn's leadership, Osamor was moved to the position of Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

In May 2018, it emerged that Osamor's victory address in the previous year's general election had plagiarised large sections of Barack Obama's 2008 victory address in his home town of Chicago.