Stephen Morgan - Labour's new Shadow Schools Minister
In December, Labour appointed Stephen Morgan MP as their new shadow schools minister, the fifth in two years. He replaces Peter Kyle, who has moved on to become Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Mr Morgan hails from Portsmouth and got his start in politics in his hometown.
After joining the Labour party at 16, he went on to study politics and sociology at Bristol University, before completing a master’s degree at Goldsmiths in London. He got his first job in government with Portsmouth City Council, before becoming Head of Community Engagement for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. In 2016 Morgan ran for public office for the first time, becoming the councillor for Charles Dickens, a central ward in Portsmouth City Council. He went on that year to become Leader of the Portsmouth Labour Group.
In 2017 he defeated the Conservative MP for Portsmouth South, Flick Drummond, overturning a majority of 1,554, to become the first member of his party to hold the seat since its creation in 1918. In Parliament Morgan has served on the Public Accounts Committee, as well as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
More recently he has been visiting many local schools and gathering feedback from Heads and pupils alike, as well as taking a delegation of teachers to lobby the government for more funding.
Image from Parliament