343 new MPs were elected last month, with 243 for the Labour Party. With such a significant degree of turnover, understanding the backgrounds of new Labour MPs will be critical to understanding the dynamics of the coming Parliament. In this article, the Brevia team looks at the incoming Labour MPs, with particular focus on those who have significant experience in their professional life which will give clues to how they will behave in office.
Councillors
Hundreds of new Labour MPs have experience in borough, district, county councils or unitary authorities. Particular consideration should be given to those who have served as Leader, or have a long experience in their role as they are likely to have a significant local network and experience in navigating the political environment. This list includes Jas Athwal (Ilford South), Leader of Redbridge London Borough Council, Satvir Kaur (Southampton Test), former Leader of Southampton City Council, Baggy Shanker (Derby South), former Leader of Derby City Council, and Georgia Gould (Queen’s Park and Maida Vale), former Leader of Camden London Borough Council who has already been appointed a Cabinet Office Minister.
Also of particular significance in the realm of local government are Shaun Davies (Telford), Leader of Telford and the Wrekin Council and Chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), and Michael Payne (Gedling), a member of both Nottinghamshire County Council and Gedling Borough Council, who chairs the Local Government Information Unit.
Politics and policy
A large number of new MPs have worked in politics before, as advisors, lobbyists, researchers, or in other roles.
Several MPs have worked for Keir Starmer himself, including Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow), Anneliese Midgley (Knowsley), Chris Ward (Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven) and Josh Simons (Makerfield). Luke Akehurst (North Durham) is also a Starmer loyalist who has worked for centrist groups such as Labour First and Labour to Win.
MPs who formerly worked as special advisers (SpAds) include Polly Billington (East Thanet), Blair McDougall (East Renfrewshire), David Pinto-Duschinsky (Hendon), Torsten Bell (Swansea West) and Kirsty McNeill (Midlothian). Still more worked as advisors to the Labour Party or Labour parliamentarians while in opposition, including David Taylor (Hemel Hempstead), Jess Asato (Lowestoft), Gordon McKee (Glasgow South), Martin McCluskey (Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West), Kanishka Narayan (Vale of Glamorgan), Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) and Alice Macdonald (Norwich North).
Other MPs with significant experience in the Labour Party include James Asser (West Ham and Beckton), who chairs Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), and Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South), former Chair of the NEC.
Several MPs have successful careers in policy or at think tanks, including Miatta Fahnbulleh (Peckham), who was recently Director of Policy and Research at the IPPR and CEO of the New Economics Foundation, and has already been appointed a minister in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Other MPs with think tank experience include Luke Murphy (Basingstoke), who worked at the IPPR, Jeevun Sandher (Loughborough) who worked at the New Economics Foundation, and Dan Tomlinson (Chipping Barnet), who worked at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
From the world of public affairs, new MPs include Jim Dickson (Dartford), former Director of Public Affairs for Four Communications, Olivia Bailey (Reading West and Mid Berkshire), former partner at Public First, and Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Suffolk Coastal), former Managing Director of Cratus Group.
Also notable are those who have worked in the wider political ecosystem without necessarily having involvement in the policy making process itself. These include economic journalist Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley), Scottish journalist Torcuil Crichton (Na h-Eileanan an Iar), the pollster Chris Curtis (Milton Keynes North) and i News journalist Paul Waugh (Rochdale). Also worthy of note are Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) and Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West), former MSPs, and Alex Mayer (Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard), a former MEP.
Public servants
Many new MPs bring experience of public service to Parliament. Many of them worked for the NHS, including surgeons Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) and Zubir Ahmed (Glasgow South West), and Simon Opher (Stroud), a GP.
Louise Jones (North East Derbyshire) and Mike Tapp (Dover and Deal) both worked in intelligence in the British Army, while Calvin Bailey (Leyton and Wanstead) served in the RAF and was Chair of the RAF Ethnic Minorities Network.
Jonathan Hinder (Pendle and Clitheroe) and Matt Bishop (Forest of Dean) were both police officers, while Hamish Falconer (Lincoln) and Alan Gemmell (Central Ayrshire) worked as diplomats.
Academics and experts
Businesses should also pay attention to those MPs who have career experience or expertise in particular sectors. Those include Phil Brickell (Bolton West) an expert in financial crime, Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) and Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West), experts in the water industry, Anna Dixon (Shipley), who has extensive experience with health charities, Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West), an international development expert, Pam Cox (Colchester), a criminologist and social historian, Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South), who co-founded Women Leading in AI and Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire), who founded Labour: Women in Tech.
In the realm of charities and trade unions, Melanie Ward (Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy) was CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians while Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) was UK Executive Director of the International Rescue Committee. Antonia Bance (Tipton and Wednesbury) formerly held a senior role at the TUC, while Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) was formerly President of the National Education Union.
There are also several MPs who worked as lawyers and specialised in particular areas, such as Tony Vaughan (Folkestone and Hythe), an immigration barrister and Sarah Sackman (Finchley and Golders Green), a barrister who specialised in public and environmental law and has been appointed Solicitor General.
Keeping abreast of the latest political developments and appreciating the motivations of new MPs will be critical to understanding and influencing the new Parliament. It is not possible to mention the background of every new MP, and this article only scratches the surface of Brevia’s extensive background research into the class of 2024.
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