Rosie Duffield

Duffield was born in 1971 in Norwich, Norfolk, England and later moved to South East London. She left school at the age of 16 and completed an administration apprenticeship at Guy's Hospital. She then attended a further education college.[3] She moved to Canterbury in 1998 and worked as a teaching assistant, before becoming briefly a political satire writer.[4][5]

In 2015, Duffield stood in the St Stephen's ward of Canterbury City Council but both seats were won by the Conservatives.[6][7] She was chairman of Canterbury Labour Party and has campaigned on issues including animal rights and environmental protection.[8]

Duffield was elected to parliament in the 2017 general election with a majority of 187, defeating the incumbent Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Julian Brazier.[9] Brazier had been its MP since 1987 and the constituency had been represented by a Conservative since its creation in 1918.[10]

On her election, she was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Dawn Butler, the Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities. On 13 June 2018, Duffield was one of six MPs to resign from the Opposition frontbench to vote in favour of remaining in the single market by joining the European Economic Area, as the party had instructed its MPs to abstain.[11] In parliament, she has sat on the Women and Equalities Committee, and sits on the Work and Pensions Select Committee since June 2018.[12]

Duffield is opposed to new grammar schools, and Eleven-plus exams. She was criticised for this stance after it emerged that both her children had gone to grammar schools.[13][14]

Duffield voted for the UK remaining within the EU in the 2016 UK EU membership referendum. In the indicative votes on 27 March 2019, she voted for a customs union with the EU and a referendum on a Brexit withdrawal agreement, but abstained on single market membership.[15]

In July 2017 she appeared on RT, a television network funded by the Russian government. Duffield apologised to the LGBT+ community for her appearance.[16]

In September 2018 Duffield attended a march protesting at Labour's stance on antisemitism and said that MPs could strike if the party did not endorse the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)'s definition of antisemitism.[17] She was criticised by some local party members for her attendance.[18] In July 2019 the chair of her constituency Labour Party said her language was "incredibly reckless" after she agreed with a remark by the Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement that Labour "probably is" institutionally anti-Semitic.[19]

In October 2019 Duffield succeeded Jess Phillips as Chair of the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party.[20][21]

On 14 April 2020, Duffield was appointed a Labour whip by new Labour leader Keir Starmer.[22] In May 2020, she resigned as a whip after breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules when she met her married partner whilst they were still living in separate households.[23][24][25]

Duffield is in a relationship with James Routh and has two sons from a past relationship.[23][26] During a debate on the Domestic Abuse Bill on 2 October 2019, using parliamentary privilege, she spoke of suffering domestic abuse from her fiancé in a previous relationship in late 2017.[27][28]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rosie Duffield.

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou