Luke Akehurst | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for North Durham | |
Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
Preceded by | Kevan Jones |
Majority | 5,873 (14.1%) |
Member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party | |
Assumed office November 2020 | |
In office 2010–2012 | |
Member of Hackney London Borough Council for Chatham | |
In office 2 May 2002 –22 May 2014 | |
Personal details | |
Born | 2 March 1972 |
Political party | Labour |
Other political affiliations | Labour First |
Alma mater | University of Bristol (BSc) |
Occupation | Former director of We Believe in Israel |
Luke Akehurst (born 2 March 1972) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Durham since 2024. [1]
He is also a Labour Party official,and a former councillor. Since 2020,Akehurst has been a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party (NEC),having previously been on the NEC from 2010 until 2012.
Akehurst was privately educated at Kent College,Canterbury. He received a Bachelor of Science in Politics from the University of Bristol in 1993. [2] [3]
Akehurst worked in the BBC Political Research Unit from 1996 to 2000, [3] and at the communications firm Weber Shandwick from 2000 to 2011. [4]
Akehurst joined the Labour Party at 16 years old. [4] He contested Cabot ward at the 1993 Avon County Council election,in which he came second to the Liberal Democrat candidate. [5] He also unsuccessfully contested the 1995 Bristol City Council election in Stoke Bishop ward. [6] Akehurst was National Secretary of Labour Students from 1995 to 1996. [7]
Between 1996 and 1998,he was an officer for Anita Pollack,then a Member of the European Parliament,and a Labour organiser in Holborn and St Pancras. Akehurst was a political assistant to the Labour Group on Hackney London Borough Council from 1998 to 2000. [3]
At the 2001 general election,Akehurst ran as the Labour candidate in Aldershot,coming third place behind incumbent Conservative MP Gerald Howarth and the Liberal Democrat Adrian Collett,in what has traditionally been a safe seat for the Conservatives. [4] [8]
In the 2002 Hackney borough council election,Akehurst was successfully elected to the council,representing Chatham ward. He was reelected to the council in 2006 and again in 2010,before standing down at the 2014 Hackney Council election. [4] [9]
At the 2005 general election,he ran in Castle Point. In the run up to the election,Akehurst criticised an anti-immigration advert that sitting Tory MP Bob Spink had published as "appalling comments that whip up racial tension" and "reminiscent of the worse utterances of Enoch Powell." [10] Akehurst came second to Spink. [4] [11]
In 2006,Akehurst became Secretary of Labour First,which represents moderates and "the old Labour Right". [12] [13] Under his leadership,the organisation has been committed to "Clause One socialism" of prioritising getting Labour candidates elected to parliament above policy, [14] as well as advocating for a party "safe from the organised hard left". [4]
In 2010,Akehurst was elected to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party. [15] He was not re-elected in 2012. [16] [17]
Since August 2011,Akehurst has been employed as director of the pro-Israel group We Believe in Israel. [18] [19] Akehurst has spoken positively of Zionism,describing it in 2023 as "a beautiful ideology of anti-racism". [20]
Following his selection as Labour's parliamentary candidate for North Durham in 2024,he has said he was "handing in his notice" and will no longer be a member of the group. [21] He has described Israel's actions in the 2023–2024 Gaza war as proportionate. Momentum said Akehurst's views on Israel's actions were "a slap in the face to voters across the country already outraged by Labour's failings on Gaza". [22]
During the 2015 Labour leadership election,Labour First urged Progress to join in supporting "ABC" (Anyone But Corbyn). [13] [23] Akehurst supported Yvette Cooper's campaign. [13]
In 2016,Akehurst attempted to run for a position on the NEC within the Constituency Labour Party (CLP) section,under the Corbyn-sceptic joint slate of candidates between Labour First and Progress,but the slate failed to achieve any candidates,all being beaten by the Momentum backed CLPD slate. [24]
Akehurst spoke out against Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the party numerous times. [25] In a 2019 speech at a Jewish Labour Movement rally,Akehurst said he had nearly left the party over anti-Semitism,and hoped that Corbyn could be removed as leader. [26] [27] On social media,he described the United Nations as antisemitic and said that Jews were "politically black". He has been criticised for what The Guardian described as "his efforts to wrest control of Labour's national executive committee,conference agenda and constituency Labour parties from the Corbynite left". [22] Akehurst has been referred to as subsequent Labour leader Keir Starmer's "leading cheerleader on the NEC" by Ronan Burtenshaw,editor of Tribune . Akehurst said of Starmer's attitude:"Voters like it when Labour leaders put the hard left back in their box". [28]
In 2018,Akehurst attempted to run for a position the NEC within the CLP section,again under the Labour First–Progress slate. [29] Akehurst achieved 49 CLP nominations, [30] but the slate failed to achieve any candidates,beaten by the pro-Corbyn joint Momentum–CLPD–CLGA slate. [29]
In 2019,Akehurst wrote on Twitter to justify the British Empire's actions during the Malayan Emergency. In response Graham Stevenson,a central council member of Liberation (formerly the "Movement for Colonial Freedom"),wrote in the Morning Star,describing Akehurst's opinins on the Malayan Emergency as "ahistorical charges,mostly myths usually perpetuated by racists,empire loyalists and anti-communist fanatics". [31]
As secretary of Labour First,he was involved in 2020 talks with Progress,which established the pro-Starmer umbrella group Labour to Win. [32]
In 2020,Akehurst was reelected in the first round to the Labour Party's NEC under the Labour to Win slate of nominees. [33] His own Oxford East CLP did not nominate him, [34] [ better source needed ] but he received more votes than any other candidate. [35] [36] In 2022,he was reelected again and once more topped the polls. [37]
In the 2021 Oxford City Council elections,Akehurst ran for the St. Mary's ward,and came in third place. [38]
In May 2024,it was announced that Akehurst was to stand in the 2024 general election as the Labour Party candidate for North Durham. [39] [40] The nomination was criticised by left-wingers and pro-Palestine activists due to Akehurst's previous accusations against Palestinian civilians in the Israel-Hamas war of being paid crisis actors,and of the United Nations of being antisemitic. [41] [42] This led to a crowdfunding campaign opposing his nomination. [43] Byline Times editor Adam Bienkov noted that Akehurst had recently deleted hundreds of tweets around the time his nomination was announced. [4] [44]
In June 2024,Labour councillor and Momentum activist Martin Abrams,who is Jewish,submitted a complaint of antisemitism against Akehurst to the party. In a speech in 2020,Akehurst had said that Marxist Jews "have abandoned very much of their Jewish identity,they don't go to shul [synagogue] at all. You know,it's become a purely cultural thing around the occasional bowl of chicken soup or whatever." Abrams said "I believe Luke Akehurst's comments are deeply antisemitic by trying to define anti-Zionist Jews out of Judaism. The Good Jew,Bad Jew trope." [45]
Akehurst was elected as the Member of Parliament for North Durham in July 2024,holding the seat for Labour. [1]
In November 2024,Akehurst voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill,which proposes to legalise assisted suicide. [46]
Akehurst is married to Oxford councillor Linda Smith. [47] He has two children. In 2009 he developed POEMS syndrome,which left him hospitalised for five months and using a wheelchair for nine months afterwards. He now uses orthotics and a walking stick. [48]
Dame Louise Joyce Ellman is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Riverside from 1997 to 2019. She is a member of the Labour Party.
Ann BlackOBE is a British political activist who serves as a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party. She served from 2000 to 2018 and was re-elected in November 2020. She was chair of the NEC from 2009 to 2010,and has also served as chair of the NEC's disputes panel.
Sharon Hodgson is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Washington and Gateshead South since 2024,and previously for Washington and Sunderland West and Gateshead East and Washington West from 2005. A member of the Labour Party,she has chaired the Finance Committee since 2023.
The Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) is a centre-left group of elected members on the Labour Party's National Executive Committee,founded in 1998. They represent members from a broad spectrum of the Labour membership,ranging from the centre-left to those on the left-wing.
Wesley Paul William Streeting is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party,he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford North since 2015.
The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM),known as Poale Zion (Great Britain) from 1903 to 2004,is one of the oldest socialist societies affiliated to the UK Labour Party. It is a member of the progressive coalition of Avodah/Meretz/Arzenu/Ameinu within the World Zionist Organization. Its sister parties are the Israeli Labor Party (Havodah) and Meretz.
Shabana Mahmood is a British politician and barrister who has been serving as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice since 2024. A member of the Labour Party,she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Ladywood since 2010. Between 2010 and 2024 she held various shadow junior ministerial and shadow cabinet positions under leaders Ed Miliband,Harriet Harman,and Keir Starmer.
Jennifer Chapman,Baroness Chapman of Darlington is a British politician and life peer who has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Latin America and Caribbean since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party,she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 2010 to 2019.
Alexander Cunningham is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Stockton North from 2010 to 2024. A member of the Labour Party,he was Shadow Minister for Courts and Sentencing from 2020 to 2024.
Imran Hussain is a British independent,previously Labour politician,and barrister who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bradford East since 2015.
Rebecca Roseanne Long-Bailey is a British independent,formerly Labour Party politician and solicitor who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Salford,previously Salford and Eccles,since 2015. She served in the Shadow Cabinet under Jeremy Corbyn,first as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2016 to 2017 and then as Shadow Business Secretary from 2017 to 2020. Under Keir Starmer,she served as Shadow Education Secretary from April to June 2020.
Momentum is a British left-wing political organisation which has been described as a grassroots movement supportive of the Labour Party;since January 2017,all Momentum members must be members of the party. It was founded in 2015 by Jon Lansman,Adam Klug,Emma Rees and James Schneider after Jeremy Corbyn's successful campaign to become Labour Party leader and it was reported to have between 20,000 and 30,000 members in 2021.
Antisemitism within the Labour Party of the United Kingdom (UK) dates back to its establishment. One early example was comments about "Jewish finance" during the Boer War. In the 2000s,controversies arose over comments by Labour politicians regarding an alleged "Jewish lobby",a comparison by Ken Livingstone of a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard,and a 2005 Labour attack on Jewish Conservative Party politician Michael Howard.
Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) is a British organisation formed in 2017 for Jewish members of the Labour Party. Its aims include a commitment "to strengthen the party in its opposition to all forms of racism,including anti-Semitism ... to uphold the right of supporters of justice for Palestinians to engage in solidarity activities",and "to oppose attempts to widen the definition of antisemitism beyond its meaning of hostility towards,or discrimination against,Jews as Jews".
A by-election was held in the UK Parliament constituency of Lewisham East on 14 June 2018,following the resignation of Labour MP Heidi Alexander. It was the second by-election held during the 57th UK Parliament,which was elected in June 2017.
Labour First is a British political organisation associated with the Labour Party. It was originally founded in 1980 but refounded in 1988. Born out of the political right wing of the Labour Party's struggles with its left wing,it sees itself as protecting the tradition of the "old Labour right". It has been described externally as "the voice of the party’s traditional right" and "a group on the right of the party". It organises petitions,endorses likeminded candidates,and runs events.
Navendu Prabhat Mishra is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stockport since 2019.
The 2020 Labour Party leadership election was triggered after Jeremy Corbyn announced his intention to resign as the leader of the Labour Party following the party's defeat at the 2019 general election. It was won by Keir Starmer,who received 56.2 per cent of the vote on the first round and went on to become Prime Minister after winning the 2024 general election. It was held alongside the deputy leadership election,in which Angela Rayner was elected to succeed Tom Watson as deputy leader after Watson retired from Parliament in November 2019,in advance of the election.
The work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism,2014–2019,is a leaked British dossier written by party staff in response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's investigation into the party's handling of antisemitism complaints and includes reports of other forms of racism. The report reveals emails of senior party management staff,aligned with the right of the party,and alleges obstruction of justice in dealing with cases of antisemitism and other noted cases of racism,and it does not clear the party of accusations of being "institutionally antisemitic". Although the report states that it "thoroughly disproves any suggestion that antisemitism is not a problem in the Party",or that it is all a smear or a witch-hunt,its main assertion is that rampant factionalism within the party had ultimately led to antisemitism and racism allegations not being dealt with properly.
The Independent Alliance is a parliamentary faction in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom comprising five members of Parliament (MPs) who were elected as independents. The group is not a political party,but a technical group within Parliament.