In all the years I knew her, Maxine made it her life’s work to challenge racial inequality Born in Kingston, Jamaica, she joined her family in England at the age of 12, living in Birmingham and attending school there before moving to work in London. In 1983, she co-founded Equinox Consulting, a management consultancy set up to promote economic, social, and political advancement for people of Black African and Black Caribbean descent.

Maxine gave so much and still had so much more to give. Her sudden death is a devastating loss for our local party, but most of all for her partner William and daughter Tayo. Streatham CLP officers organised a moving memorial to Maxine earlier this week at Streatham Common, with contributions from right across the Labour family.

The summer recess was busier than usual this year with the unexpected recall of Parliament amid the fall of Kabul. My team and I spent much of the last month trying to help constituents with loved ones stranded in Afghanistan. By the time the UK’s initial evacuation effort ended, we had not received a single reply from the government. 

I still found time to get out into the constituency this month, helping with a clean-up at Russell’s Footpath, checking in with local charities and hosting pop-up surgeries to help constituents with their problems.