13 Facts About Bernie Grant

Bernard Alexander Montgomery Grant was a British politician who was the Member of Parliament for Tottenham, London, from 1987 to his death in 2000.

Bernie Grant was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, to schoolteacher parents, who in 1963 took up the UK Government's offer to people from the crown colonies to settle in the United Kingdom.

Bernie Grant quickly became a trade union official, and moved into politics, becoming a Labour councillor in the London Borough of Haringey in 1978.

Bernie Grant was associated with the Socialist Campaign Group, and spoke out against police racism.

Bernie Grant's comments brought swift denunciation from the Labour Party leadership, and the then Conservative Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, called him "the high priest of conflict"; several British newspapers dubbed him "Barmy Bernie".

Bernie Grant claimed that he was merely explaining to a wider audience what the feeling on the estate was like.

Bernie Grant claimed his words had been taken out of context, but offered an apology to the family of PC Blakelock.

Bernie Grant later stood for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party, but was unsuccessful.

In 1993, Bernie Grant co-founded and chaired the African Reparations Movement to campaign for the movement for reparations for slavery and racism.

Bernie Grant married three times, living with his third wife in Muswell Hill.

Bernie Grant died from a heart attack at Middlesex Hospital on 8 April 2000, aged 56.

On 5 December 2017, a portrait of Bernie Grant was unveiled in Parliament.

Bernie Grant was a champion of his community, a dedicated constituency MP and has encouraged a generation of BAME leaders.