Famous Vegans - Chris Williamson

Chris Williamson

Born Christopher Williamson on September 16, 1956. He is a British Labour Party politician. He has been a member of the Labour Party since 1976. In 2010, he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby North.

He was inspired to go into politics because of people like Martin Luther King and is an anti-poverty and animal welfare campaigner. He is on the board of trustees of the organization League Against Cruel Sports. His website can be found at this link.

Quotes by Chris Williamson:

"I have been a vegan since the mid 1970s. I was just concerned about the cruelty associated with the veal trade. I was a vegetarian first of all and felt there was some inconsistency between being a vegetarian and continuing to drink dairy products. It was really on that basis that I decided that it would be the appropriate step to take."

"I gave up alcohol when I was 17, on my 17th birthday. I stopped smoking when I was 18 and became vegetarian when I was 19 and subsequently went on to become vegan."

He was present during a debate in the House of Commons led by Kerry McCarthy on World Vegan Day in 2011. During the debate, he also spoke and said the following:

"Does my honourable Friend agree that the case for eating less meat or becoming vegan is reinforced by the fact that major companies are buying up vast tracts of land in developing nations to grow grain for animals, displacing subsistence farmers from their land? When 2 billion people on this planet are going hungry every night, would it not be better to use the food that we produce more efficiently by feeding it directly to human beings, rather than to animals, which is an inefficient way of using land?"

Quotes are from his 2011 interview on Vegan Option and the transcript of the 2011 debate.