More than three decades after her election to Parliament, Diane Abbott is still racking up firsts. The first black woman elected to Parliament, she also recently became the first black person to represent their party at PMQs. Based on interviews with her colleagues, her political opponents and friends from school and university, as well as extensive archival research, Diane Abbott: The Authorised Biography traces Abbott's path from London, via Cambridge University, through the media and radical politics into Parliament, and then to the top of Jeremy Corbyn's shadow Cabinet.

Robin Bunce is Director of Studies for History and Politics at Homerton College, University of Cambridge.