Former
Welcome to my website and blog.
You can read a bit more about who I am and what makes me tick here. A summary of the work I did when I was Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 can also be found here.
The older posts on here date from my time as an MP but I have continued to blog since leaving Parliament.
The opening paragraphs of my blog posts appear at the bottom of this page in reverse date order. The “Read on” buttons take you to what I have written in full. My posts below also contain links to articles I have written and which have been published elsewhere, together with posts imported from my own Facebook page.
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Chair @SarahChampionMP has written with concern to Foreign Secretary @YvetteCooperMP over the Israeli Government’s treatment of @UNRWA and other INGOs, which run a range of services for Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Read more: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/98/international-development-committee/news/211214/international-development-committee-chair-urges-foreign-secretary-to-act-over-unrwa-restrictions/
Trump’s coup in Venezuela didn’t just break the rules – it showed there aren’t any. We’ll all regret that | Nesrine Malik
An illegal military strike on Saturday followed by claims that the USA will “run” Venezuela.
Now a renewed threat to seize Greenland over the heads of its people.
When will our leaders here in the UK stop prevaricating and stand up for international law?
The boundaries between legitimate protest, abuse and intimidation are again in the spotlight. It is not the first time this has been an issue. I wrote about this subject in 2016 when I was an MP. Those of us who rightly call for the carnage in Gaza to stop – and stop now – must certainly reject intimidatory abuse in support of that cause. But nobody should pretend such abuse has ever only come …
The International Court of Justice has reminded Israel that it has already ordered it to “ensure the safety and security of the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip” – including in Rafah. The onslaught on Rafah that Netanyahu is threatening would be a clear breach of that order and illegal. How will history judge the international community if we just carry on making polite requests to Israel …
“The most worrying finding is that patients are not always protected from harm.” I am chair of Healthwatch Birmingham and Healthwatch Solihull. This was my first statement on the new CQC report into University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust: In some respects, the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) is a picture of …
With more than 68 ships per day passing through the Suez Canal, carrying 12 percent of all goods traded in the world, it has been impossible for the international community to ignore the escalating attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea that Yemen's Houthis have launched over the past two months. In that context, the decision of the US and the UK to take military action against Houthi bases …
A friend in Gaza has just sent me this photo of people trying to get to the south on foot, having lost their homes in and around Gaza City. Whole lives consigned to a carrier bag or backpack. It will always shame the world that we let these war crimes carry on.
On Remembrance Sunday, a video of my visit to the Commonwealth War Graves in Gaza Cemetery in 2012. I met Ibrahim Jaradah MBE who had lovingly kept the cemetery immaculate for decades. Ibrahim’s family have continued his work ever since but they are amongst the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have now been forced to flee the north of Gaza. I don’t know how far the cemetery has survived …
By Katie Neame Originally published by Labour List, November 9, 2023 A former Labour shadow minister has urged the party not to further row back on past commitments on recognising Palestine when in government, criticising its decision not to promise immediate recognition of statehood. Speaking exclusively to LabourList, Richard Burden, the former Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield, called on …
This week, the UK Government has published a Bill that will both jettison Britain’s respect for international laws that ban the acquisition of territory by conquest and ignore UN rules signed by the UK over a decade ago calling on businesses to ensure their commercial dealings abroad uphold human rights. The Bill will also uniquely shield human rights abuses by Israel from scrutiny by UK public …
To all my friends living in my home town: Please consider this. There are around 1.1 million Palestinians living in the north of the Gaza Strip. Israel’s military order that they should leave within 24 hours is like telling the population of Birmingham to leave within 24 hours – including evacuating the Queen Elizabeth, other hospitals and care homes in the city, as well as people’s houses …
Healthwatch Birmingham and Healthwatch Solihull statement on the Culture Review of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) Healthwatch Birmingham and Healthwatch Solihull have for some time been hearing disturbing stories of the toxic staff culture at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), which we have been raising directly with the Trust and Care Quality …
Visiting the occupied West Bank & Gaza last week, Medical Aid for Palestinians Vice Chair, Shireen Jayyusi and I were at Rafidia hospital in Nablus on Thursday. We arrived just hours after an Israeli military raid on the town in which soldiers had surrounded the hospital overnight. We heard testimony from doctors that tear gas canisters had been thrown through hospital windows by Israeli …
Statement on downgraded Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings for maternity services at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) In its decision to downgrade maternity services provided by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) at Good Hope and Heartlands hospitals, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has highlighted serious issues which require urgent …
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.
