Minority Ethnic MPs in the UK Parliament since 1987

自1987年以来，英国议会中少数族裔议员的数量一直在稳步增加。1987年只有4名议员当选，2019年大选中有65名来自少数族裔背景的议员进入英国议会，在下议院任职。除此之外，组成上议院的议员中有7.5%来自少数民族。尽管被认为是英国最多元化的议会，来自少数族裔背景的议员占当年当选议员总数的10%，但关于英国少数族裔议员的学术文献和口述历史并没有反映出这种变化。该项目与莱斯特大学和议会历史合作，旨在弥合这一差距。实现这一目标的一种方式是通过口头面试。采访将对英国政治派别的少数族裔议员进行，他们曾在下议院任职。采访将只关注国会议员的生活、职业和他们自己的整个时间段的个人经历。然后，这些访谈将被添加到议会历史健全档案中，以便于查阅，并有助于今后的研究。尽管1987年被认为是第一批少数族裔议员当选英国议会议员的一年，但学术文章和政治普查得出的结论是，第一位少数族裔议员被认为是辉格党的詹姆斯·汤森德，他于1767年在康沃尔担任West Looe选区。汤森德只是围绕种族和民族的观念和定义的变化的许多人中的一个例子。因此，访谈和正在进行的研究将为该项目奠定基础，该项目旨在探索当代英国社会和政治史、大英帝国、种族、种族(及其定义)和政治机构发展等更广泛的主题。

Since 1987, the number of minority ethnic MPs in UK parliament has steadily increased. With just four being elected in 1987, the 2019 general election saw 65 MPs from minority ethnic backgrounds being elected into UK Parliament, serving in the House of Commons. Alongside this, 7.5% of those who made up the House of Lords were from minority ethnic groups. Although considered to be Britain's most diverse parliament with MPs from minority ethnic backgrounds constituting 10% of the overall MPs elected that year, scholarly literature and oral histories on minority ethnic MPs as a whole in the UK does not reflect this change. The project, working in partnership with the University of Leicester and History of Parliament will aim to bridge this gap. One way which this will be achieved through oral interviews. The interviews will take place with minority ethnic MPs across the political spectrum in the UK who have served in the House of Commons. The interviews will solely focus on the MPs lives, careers, and their own personal experiences throughout this time. These interviews will then be added to the History of Parliament sound archives to make them easily accessible and to contribute to future research. Although 1987 is considered the year the first minority ethnic MPs were elected to UK Parliament, scholarly articles and political censuses have concluded that the first MP from a minority ethnic group was considered to be James Townshend of the Whig Party, serving as the West Looe constituency in Cornwall in 1767. Townshend is just one example of many who encompass the change in ideas and definitions around race and ethnicity. As a result, the interviews coupled with the research taking place will lay the foundations for the project which will aim to explore wider themes of Contemporary British Social and Political History, the British Empire, Race, Ethnicity (and the definitions around this) and the development of political institutions.