Wes Streeting

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Wes Streeting
MP
File:WesStreetingHKF.jpg
Member of Parliament
for Ilford North
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded by Lee Scott
Majority 589 (1.2%)
Member of the Redbridge London Borough Council
for Aldborough
Assumed office
22 May 2014
Preceded by Ruth Clark
Member of the Redbridge London Borough Council
for Chadwell
In office
8 July 2010 – 22 May 2014
Preceded by Mark Gittens
Succeeded by Neil Zammett
53rd President of the National Union of Students
In office
1 July 2008 – 10 June 2010
Preceded by Gemma Tumelty
Succeeded by Aaron Porter
Personal details
Born (1983-01-21) 21 January 1983 (age 41)
London, United Kingdom
Political party Labour
Alma mater Selwyn College, Cambridge
Religion Anglicanism
Website Official website

Wesley Paul William Streeting (born 21 January 1983) is an English Labour MP for Ilford North, elected in the 2015 General Election with 44% of the vote (21,463).

Prior to his election, he was Deputy Leader of the London Borough of Redbridge and Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing. He remains a Labour councillor for Aldborough Ward.

Streeting's career has been in the voluntary sector, most recently as Head of Education at Stonewall, where he led their 'Education for All' campaign to tackle homophobia in schools. He was previously Chief Executive of the Helena Kennedy Foundation, an educational charity that promotes access to higher education to students from further education colleges through bursaries, mentoring and work placements. He is a former National President of the National Union of Students (NUS) in the United Kingdom.

Early life & Education

Born in Tower Hamlets, Streeting attended Westminster City School, a voluntary aided, Christian school in Victoria, central London.

Streeting is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, where he read History at Selwyn College. He served as the President of the Cambridge University Students' Union for 2004-5, and as Selwyn College's Entertainments' Officer and Junior Common Room President.

After graduating Streeting worked for the Labour Party-related organisation Progress for a year.[1]

NUS President

Streeting was elected as NUS President in April 2008 as a candidate from Labour Students. He had been a member of the NUS National Executive Committee since 2005, having previously held the post of Vice President (Education) from 2006–08. In April 2009, Streeting was elected to a second term.

As Vice-President of NUS, Streeting was a strong proponent of his predecessor Gemma Tumelty's proposed reforms to the NUS governance structures, which had been denounced and narrowly defeated by many left wing groups in NUS as an attack on NUS democracy.[2] His election was reported by The Guardian newspaper as 'a move that will lend weight to the fight to modernise the union'[3] and within seven months of taking office, revised reform proposals were submitted, passed and ratified by two extraordinary conferences to adopt the new constitution.[citation needed] Critics have argued, however, that the conferences were undemocratic, with a significant number of delegates not having been elected by cross-campus ballot. A large proportion of FE colleges were also unable to attend.[citation needed]

He was a leading figure in efforts to change the NUS's position on higher education funding in advance of the Government's 2009/10 independent review of Higher Education Funding in England.[4]

As NUS President, Streeting was a non-executive director of the NUS's trading arm, NUS Services Ltd and of Endsleigh Insurance. He was also a non-executive director of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), as well as the Higher Education academy, having served on their board as Vice President (Education) when he was also a non-executive director of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIAHE). Shortly after his election as NUS President, Streeting was appointed as a member of the government's Youth Citizenship Commission, chaired by Professor Jonathan Tonge of Liverpool University, which published its report in June 2009.[5]

In March 2009 Pink News listed him as the 33rd most powerful LGBT politician in the UK.[6]

Political career

In 2010 shortly after leaving PwC, Streeting was appointed as Head of Policy and Strategic Communications for Oona King's unsuccessful bid to win the Labour Party's nomination to be their candidate in the 2012 London Mayoral election.[7]

Councillor: 2010–present

Wes Streeting was elected as a Labour Party councillor on Redbridge London Borough Council, for the Chadwell ward, in a July 2010 by-election, holding the seat for Labour by 220 votes, and winning with 31.5% of the vote (a fall of 1.4% for Labour in the ward) on a 25.5% turnout (a fall of 34.5% in turnout).[8][9] The by-election had been triggered by a previous Labour candidate having been elected two months earlier when he was ineligible to serve on the council.[10] As a result of his election, Streeting gave up his job as a public sector consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as Redbridge Council was a current audit client of the firm, forcing Streeting to choose between keeping his job or forcing a second by-election.[11]

Streeting was elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Group in October 2011, 15 months after his election as a Redbridge Councillor.[12] In 2014, he contested the Aldborough ward on Redbridge Council, winning 2100 votes and defeating Conservative opponent Ruth Clark.[13] He was appointed Deputy Leader of the Council in May 2014 shortly after the Labour group took control with a majority in the local elections.[14] He resigned the latter shortly after being elected Member of Parliament for Ilford North.[15] He remains a backbench councillor but is not claiming an allowance from Redbridge Council.[16]

Member of Parliament for Ilford North, 2015 -

In the General Election of 7 May 2015 Wes Streeting was elected Member of Parliament for the Ilford North Constituency. Representing the Labour Party he overturned a Conservative majority of 5404[17] to win by 589 votes.[18]

References

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  2. www.nusdemocracy.org.uk
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  13. Redbridge i - Local Election result, 2014
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External links

Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by President of the National Union of Students
2008–2010
Succeeded by
Aaron Porter
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Ilford North

2015–present
Incumbent