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Gina Nadira Miller was born in Guyana on 19th April 1965 to the late former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Doodnauth Singh SC, and Savitri Singh.
At age 11, she migrated to England to attend the all-girls boarding school in Eastbourne. To supplement her finances at age 13 she worked as a chambermaid at an Eastbourne hotel while still at school. A chambermaid in a hotel is one who cleans bedrooms and bathrooms.
Gina initially studied law but later switched to marketing, graduating from the University of North London, whilst working and being a single parent to her daughter Lucy-Ann. She later successfully read for a master’s degree in Human Resources Management from the University of East London, and received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of East London
At school she was attacked by her classmates, whom she said were Asians. The reason for being attacked: they felt she was “being too Western.”
Inspite of earlier challenges, Gina is not only considered an activist and successful entrepreneur, but holds the distinct record of taking the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) to court and having judgement delivered in her favour.
Guyanese may have followed the national political fall-out in the UK over whether to remain in the European Union (EU) or exit. What became known as Brexit (those who want to leave) and Remainders (those who wanted to stay), a referendum was held on 23rd June 2016 and the Brexiters won.
Then entered Gina into the international spotlight when she moved to court challenging the vote. She challenged the UK Government’s authority to trigger Article 50 of the Libson Treaty (EU) without parliamentary approval. Article 50 states: “Any member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.”
On 24 January 2017, by an eight to three decision, the Supreme Court ruled the government cannot trigger Article 50 without an act of Parliament authorising it to do so.
Again in 2019 she had another victory against the UK Government on the prorogation of Parliament. On 24 September 2019, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously the prorogation was unlawful.
During the Brexit legal challenges, Gina was the recipients of much hate speech, including racist remarks and death threats that contributed to fear of leaving her home. In October 2019, detectives with the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into a GoFundMe campaign seeking to raise £10,000 to hire a hitman to kill her. Some of her tormentors were placed before the court and convicted.
Gina Miller is also politically active. In September 2021, she announced the foundation of a new political party called the True and Fair Party, which was formally launched on 13th January 2022.
Her contributions to society have not gone unnoticed.
In 2016 she was number 26 on the Asian GG2 power list of most influential British Asians.
In 2017, she was listed by Powerlist among the 100 most influential people of African or African-Caribbean heritage in Britain. Her name was chosen among others by an independent panel of persons in social standing. Nominees are rated on their “ability to change lives and alter events”.
In accepting the 2017 recognition Gina said, “it’s amazing to get an accolade when what I’ve done has solicited a huge amount of abuse.” However, “To have somebody acknowledge me is extraordinarily kind and counters a lot of what I still get on a daily basis.”
Gina Miller is married and the mother of three.
(Source: the internet)
