James Keir Hardie was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and served as its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908.
Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated 6 miles south of Sunderland and 13 miles (21 km) east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and coal mines. The town is twinned with the German town of Gerlingen.
In British parliamentary practice, the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet consists of senior members of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition who scrutinise their corresponding government ministers, develop alternative policies, hold the government to account for its actions and responses, and act as spokesperson for the opposition party in their own specific policy areas. Since May 2010, the Labour Party has been Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, and its leadership therefore forms the current shadow cabinet.
The frontbench of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the Shadow Cabinet and other official shadow ministers of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. The Opposition front bench provide Parliamentary opposition to the British Government front bench, and is currently the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer since April 2020.
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer is a British politician and former lawyer who has served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015. Ideologically, Starmer has been described as being on the soft left within the Labour Party.
The Leader of the Labour Party is the head of the Labour Party of the United Kingdom. The current leader is Sir Keir Starmer, who was elected in April 2020 to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, having previously spent 9 months as Shadow Minister of Immigration and 3 years, 5 months as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union in Corbyn's shadow cabinet.
Paul Christopher Blomfield is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Central since 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Shadow Minister for Exiting the European Union from 2016 to 2020 and Shadow Minister for Brexit and European Union Negotiations from 2020 to 2021.
The decision of the Parliament of Scotland to ratify the Treaty of Union in 1707 was not unanimous and, from that time, individuals and organisations have advocated the reinstatement of a Scottish Parliament. Some have argued for devolution – a Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom – while others have advocated complete independence. The people of Scotland first got the opportunity to vote in a referendum on proposals for devolution in 1979 and, although a majority of those voting voted 'Yes', the referendum legislation also required 40% of the electorate to vote 'Yes' for the plans to be enacted and this was not achieved. A second referendum opportunity in 1997, this time on a strong proposal, resulted in an overwhelming 'Yes' victory, leading to the Scotland Act 1998 being passed and the Scottish Parliament being established in 1999.
Jennifer Chapman, Baroness Chapman of Darlington is a British politician and life peer attending shadow cabinet as a Shadow Minister of State at the Cabinet Office since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 2010 to 2019.
Angela Rayner is a British politician serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work since 2021. She has been Shadow First Secretary of State, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. Rayner has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015. She ideologically identifies as a socialist and as being part of Labour's soft left.
Carolyn Harris is a Welsh politician serving as Deputy Leader of Welsh Labour since 2018. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Swansea East since 2015.
Rebecca Roseanne Long-Bailey, sometimes referred to by her initials RLB, is a British politician and former solicitor serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Salford and Eccles since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, Long-Bailey served in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2016 to 2017, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2017 to 2020 and Shadow Secretary of State for Education in 2020.
Local elections in England and Wales were held on 6 May 2021 for more than 145 English local councils for around 5,000 seats, thirteen directly elected mayors in England, and 39 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales. There were also elections to the Scottish Parliament, Senedd and London Assembly, the last in conjunction with the London mayoral election. Also on the same day as these local elections, there was a UK Parliament by-election for the constituency of Hartlepool.
Richard John Holden is a British Conservative Party politician, who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham since the 2019 general election. Holden is the first Conservative MP in the constituency's history. Prior to becoming an MP, he had worked as a special adviser in a number of government departments.
David Richard Evans is a British political official who has served as general secretary of the Labour Party since 25 September 2021, having acted as general secretary since 26 May 2020. He served as an assistant general secretary of the Labour Party from 1999 to 2001. Evans was the regional director of the North West Labour Party from 1995 to 1999 and founded The Campaign Company, a political consultancy.
The Runanga Miners' Hall is a hall in the town of Runanga, on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. The current structure dates from 1937, and replaced an early miners' hall from 1908 that was destroyed by fire. The hall is notable for its place in the history of the organised labour movement in New Zealand, and was granted historic place category 1 status by Heritage New Zealand in 2013.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, numerous protests have taken place over the government's response.
Partygate is a political scandal in the United Kingdom about parties and other gatherings of government and Conservative Party staff held during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, when public health restrictions prohibited most gatherings. While several lockdowns in the country were in place, gatherings took place at 10 Downing Street, its garden and other government buildings. Report of events attracted media attention, public backlash and political controversy. In late January 2022, twelve gatherings came under investigation by the Metropolitan Police, including at least three attended by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister. The police issued 126 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to 83 individuals whom the police found had committed offences under COVID-19 regulations, including one each to Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson, and Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who all apologised and paid the penalties.
The Starmer Project: A Journey to the Right is a 2022 book by British journalist Oliver Eagleton, published by Verso Books. It is a political biography of British opposition and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and follows his time in the Crown Prosecution Service and Shadow Cabinet of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, covering his political alliances, election as party leader and subsequent leadership of the Labour Party.
Beergate is the political controversy that developed in 2022 following allegations that, on 30 April 2021, a Labour Party campaign team of at least fifteen people, including leader Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner, breached COVID-19 social distancing rules, when in a Labour Party office in Durham during the campaign before the 2021 Hartlepool by-election and local elections. A student took a short video around 10 pm, looking through the window of the office. The Sun on Sunday published pictures from the video showing Starmer with beer, and others eating. Labour said they had complied with the rules for work gatherings, and the meal was permissible as being reasonably necessary for work.
