Chair and Vice-chairs
Honorary president
Stephen Twigg MP
Stephen Twigg is the shadow secretary of state for education. He served as Labour MP for Enfield Southgate for eight years, defeating the then cabinet minister Michael Portillo, which became one of the defining moments of New Labour history. He has served in government first as deputy leader of the House of Commons and then education minister. In 2010 he was elected as Labour and Cooperative MP for Liverpool West Derby.
Chair
Andrew Adonis
Andrew Adonis was minister for schools and secretary of state for transport under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He pioneered the academy school programme, as well as promoting the Teach First scheme. He published Labour’s scheme for a high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham and sits as a Labour peer in the House of Lords. He recently took an industrial strategy role under Ed Miliband.
Vice-chairs
Jenny Chapman MP
Jenny Chapman was elected as MP for Darlington at the 2010 general election. She sits on two select committees and is a shadow minister for justice.
Stephen Doughty is Labour and Cooperative MP for Cardiff South and Penarth and was elected in 2012 in a by-election. He formerly worked at Oxfam and as an adviser to then secretary of state for international development Douglas Alexander MP.
Julie Elliott was elected as the MP for Sunderland Central in May 2010. Julie holds the position of parliamentary private secretary to Caroline Flint MP. In addition she also sits on the European scrutiny select committee, BIS select committee and is co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for primary care and public health. Recently Julie sat on several bill committees scrutinising government legislation including the localism bill and the welfare reform bill.
Since May 2010 Tristram Hunt has served as the MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central. He is a member of the select committee on political and constitutional reform and a member of the joint committee on reform of the House of Lords. After working for Tony Blair and Labour party HQ on the 1997 general election campaign he became a special adviser to science minister Lord Sainsbury.
Dan Jarvis was elected as MP for Barnsley Central in January 2011. Prior to his parliamentary career, he rose to the rank of Major in the British army, serving in Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan with the Parachute Regiment. He is shadow minister for culture.
Liz Kendall was elected as the MP for Leicester West in 2010. She is currently the shadow minister for care and older people. Prior to her election, Liz worked for two thinktanks; the Institute for Public Policy Research, where she was the associate director for health, social care and children’s early years and The King’s Fund, where she was a researcher on the public health programme focusing on tackling local health inequalities. She served as an adviser to two members of the cabinet when Labour was in government.
Alison McGovern became the member of parliament for Wirral South in May 2010. Alison sat on the international development select committee and became PPS to Gordon Brown in July 2010, before joining the whips’ office.
Toby Perkins is shadow minister for small business. His election in 2010 as member for Chesterfield returned the seat to Labour and bucked the national trend of a swing away from Labour. Prior to becoming an MP, Toby ran his own small business for five years.
Lucy Powell is MP for Manchester Central, elected in a by-election in 2012. She is a former deputy chief of staff to Ed Miliband and former campaign director of Britain in Europe.
Steve Reed is MP for Croydon North, elected in a by-election in 2012. He is a former leader of Lambeth council, leading on the development of the Cooperative Councils Network, and former executive member for children and young people on London Councils.
Jonathan Reynolds was elected as the MP for Stalybridge and Hyde at the 2010 general election. Prior to this he was an elected member of Tameside Council and a solicitor. In parliament he has served as an opposition assistant whip covering the shadow justice and constitutional affairs team, and in October 2011 was appointed as parliamentary private secretary to Ed Miliband.
John Woodcock is the Labour and Cooperative MP for Barrow and Furness. He is a former shadow minister for transport and is chair of Labour Friends of Israel. Previously he worked as an aide to John Hutton and a political spokesman for Gordon Brown.
