Richard Burgon
Richard Burgon MP | |
---|---|
Official Parliamentary portrait, June 2017 | |
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Shadow Lord Chancellor | |
Assumed office 27 June 2016 | |
Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
Shadowing |
Michael Gove Elizabeth Truss David Lidington David Gauke |
Preceded by | The Lord Falconer of Thoroton |
Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury
Shadow City Minister | |
In office 16 September 2015 – 27 June 2016 | |
Shadowing |
Harriet Baldwin Simon Kirby |
Preceded by | Cathy Jamieson |
Succeeded by | Jonathan Reynolds |
Member of Parliament for Leeds East | |
Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |
Preceded by | George Mudie |
Majority | 12,752 (30.8%) |
Personal details | |
Born |
Leeds, England | 19 September 1980
Political party | Labour |
Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
Website | Official website |
Richard Burgon MP (born 19 September 1980) is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds East. He is also the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor.
Burgon studied English Literature at St John's College, Cambridge, where he was chair of Cambridge University Labour Club. After working as a trade union lawyer, he was elected as the MP for Leeds East at the 2015 general election. He was appointed as Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury (City Minister) in September 2015 by new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Burgon was promoted to Shadow Justice Secretary in June 2016 following multiple resignations in protest against the leadership of Corbyn.
Early life and education
Burgon was educated at Cardinal Heenan Roman Catholic High School in Leeds. As this school did not have a sixth form, he moved onto St Aidan's and St John Fisher Associated Sixth Form in Harrogate[1] to complete his A-Levels. He then studied English Literature at St John's College, Cambridge. He was chair of Cambridge University Labour Club.[2]
He is the nephew of the former Labour MP Colin Burgon,[2] and stood at the age of 23 as one of the Labour candidates for the Wetherby ward on Leeds City Council in 2004.
Career
Burgon qualified as a solicitor in 2006,[3] and was a trade union lawyer before being elected as the MP for Leeds East at the 2015 general election.[4][5]
Standing on the floor of the House of Commons in May 2015 he prefaced his mandatory oath of allegiance to Elizabeth II by expressing his support for constitutional change for an elected head of state: "As someone that believes that the head of state should be elected I make this oath in order to serve my constituents".[6]
He was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.[7] Corbyn appointed him as shadow economic secretary to the treasury (city minister).
In an October 2015 Channel 4 News interview, Burgon admitted that despite being Shadow City Minister for more than a month he was still yet to actually meet anyone from the city of London's finance and banking industry, nor could he predict the UK budget deficit for 2015.[8][9] Burgon was promoted to Shadow Justice Secretary on 27 June 2016 following multiple resignations in protest against the leadership of Corbyn.[10] In September 2017, the political commentator Iain Dale listed Burgon at Number 86 in 'The 100 Most Influential People on the Left', writing: "Described by some as Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Comical Ali’ Burgon is certainly a true believer."[11]
Burgon is secretary of the GMB Parliamentary Group which helps to make sure issues that matter to GMB members are raised in the House of Commons.
Views
Burgon is regarded as being on the left within the Labour Party[12] and has taken part in People's Assembly Against Austerity protests.[13] He has opposed military intervention and the bombing of Syria following the November 2015 Paris attacks by ISIS militants.[14]
References
- ↑ "March 2016 Newsletter" (PDF). St John Fisher School. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- 1 2 Pickard, Jim (16 May 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn's reluctant man in the City - FT.com". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 June 2016. (Subscription required (help)).
- ↑ "Richard Burgon - The Law Society". Find a Solicitor. The Law Society. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- ↑ Simmons, Richard, Meet the lawyers standing for Parliament, Lawyer 2B, 10 April 2015
- ↑ "Parliamentary General Election results [Leeds East, 2015]". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ↑ "Labour MP Richard Burgon Calls For End Of Monarchy Before Swearing Allegiance To The Queen". The Huffington Post UK. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
- ↑ Bright, Sam (15 June 2015). "Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election?". Newstatesman.com. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
- ↑ Newman, Cathy. "Why I went full throttle in my own car-crash interview". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ↑ Bartlett, Evan. "Labour MP endures four excruciating minutes in painful Channel 4 interview". The Independent. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
- ↑ "Who's staying and who's going in the shadow cabinet?". BBC. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ↑ Dale, Iain (25 September 2017). "The 100 Most Influential People On The Left: Iain Dale's 2017 List". LBC. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ↑ Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Socialist Party (UK)
- ↑ "Protests held against UK Chancellor's spending cuts" Press TV 25 November 2015.
- ↑ Burgon, Richard (30 November 2015). "Bombing Syria Is Not the Right Thing for the Country, the Wider Region or for Britain". Huffington Post. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Burgon. |
- Official website
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 2010–present
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by George Mudie |
Member of Parliament for Leeds East 2015–present |
Incumbent |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by The Lord Falconer of Thoroton |
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice 2016–present |
Incumbent |
Shadow Lord Chancellor 2016–present |