Nadia Whittome was born on 29 August 1996 in
Nottingham.[4][5] Her
PunjabiSikh father migrated to the UK from
Banga, India, at the age of 21. He first worked in factories and as a miner before giving immigration advice and running a shop.[6] Her mother is an
Anglo-IndianCatholic solicitor and former member of the Labour Party, who left in protest at the amendment of
Clause IV of the constitution in 1995.[7] Whittome grew up in a single-parent household, with a brother.[6][8] She attended private schools in Nottingham, between the ages of 7 and 11[9] and later attended
West Bridgford School. She also attended
Bilborough Sixth Form College, sitting two A Levels, going on to complete an
access course at
Nottingham College.[7]
Following her election, Whittome said that she would keep what she termed "a worker's wage" of £35,000 (after tax), and would donate the remainder of her £79,468 salary as an MP to local charities.[7][24] Whittome initially supported
Clive Lewis in the
2020 Labour Party leadership election but when Lewis withdrew, nominated
Emily Thornberry.[25][26][27] On 28 February 2020, Whittome announced that she would be voting for
Rebecca Long-Bailey for leader and
Dawn Butler for deputy.[28]
In February 2020, Whittome organised a letter signed by 170 MPs demanding that Jamaican-born offenders not be deported to
Jamaica.[29]
During the
COVID-19 pandemic, she worked as a part-time carer at a care home. Whittome appeared on Newsnight in April where she discussed shortages in
PPE at her workplace. Shortly after her appearance on the show, she claimed that she had been dismissed from her job as a carer for "spreading misinformation". Her employer ExtraCare denied that there were any shortages in PPE at the care home, and also stated that Whittome had not been dismissed, but that her services were "no longer needed" as their own in-house care team could now meet their needs.[30] In September ExtraCare issued a statement in which they admitted that there had been shortages of PPE at the care home, and that Whittome had helped to resolve this through public appeals in March and April.[31]
In September 2020, Whittome was one of 18 Labour MPs who defied the whip and voted against the Overseas Operations Bill. She said the bill was "anti-veteran, anti-human rights, and would effectively decriminalise torture". In response, she was sacked from her role as a parliamentary private secretary.[35] In November, she signed an open letter condemning violence and discrimination against transgender people.[36]
Whittome was critical of the
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, calling it "the next step in our descent to authoritarianism" and claiming the Bill was "born out of
Priti Patel's fury at
Black Lives Matter".[37] In May 2021, alongside celebrities and other public figures, she was a signatory to an open letter from
Stylist magazine which called on the government to address what it described as an "epidemic of male violence" by funding an "ongoing, high-profile, expert-informed awareness campaign on men's violence against women and girls".[38]
Whittome identifies as
queer.[42] She speaks fluent French and German.[43][44] In May 2021, Whittome announced that she had been suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder and would be taking a leave of absence. On 6 September 2021, she returned to her duties in the House of Commons.[45] She is a
vegan.[46] Whittome has described herself as a baptised Catholic who does not follow any religion, and has affirmed rather than taking an
oath of office.[47]
Notes
References
^
ab"West Bridgford West". Nottingham County Council.
Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.