Durham University alumni and supporters will help to shape the future of UK politics following the country’s recent General Election.
Several graduates and a current member of University staff have been elected to the House of Commons as new Members of Parliament (MPs). Two of our alumni will take up seats in the House of Lords.
Durham alumnus James Timpson, OBE, Chief Executive of Timpson Group, who earlier this month was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science by the University, has been appointed to the Lords.
He becomes the Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation after being invited to take up the position by new UK Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
James, who studied geography at Durham, is Chair of the Prison Reform Trust and received his OBE for the training and employment of disadvantaged people. Timpson Group is now one of the UK’s largest employers of ex-offenders.
Sir Graham Brady will join James in the Lords – the non-elected upper chamber of the UK’s Parliament which has a role in holding the Government to account.
A Durham law alumnus and former MP, Sir Graham was Chair of the Conservative Party’s influential 1922 Committee of backbench MPs.
He will take up his seat in the Lords after being appointed by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following the dissolution of Parliament prior to the General Election.
In the House of Commons, Carla Denyer, who graduated from Durham with a degree in mechanical engineering, has been elected as MP for Bristol Central.
Co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Carla is one of four Green MPs – the highest number of elected members the Party has ever achieved.
Victoria Collins, who studied history with us, was elected as the new Liberal Democrat MP for Harpenden and Berkhamsted, in Hertfordshire.
Iqbal Mohamed, who graduated in applied physics and electronics at Durham, takes his seat in the Commons as the Independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley, in West Yorkshire.
Sam Rushworth, Programme Manager in our Research and Innovation Services department, has been elected as the Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, in County Durham.
John Slinger, who holds a master's degree in international relations from Durham, has been elected as the Labour MP for Rugby, in Warwickshire.
And Dr Peter Swallow, formerly a postdoctoral research fellow in our Department of Classics and Ancient History, has been elected Labour MP for Bracknell, Crowthorne and Sandhurst, in Berkshire.
Durham graduates are among the most highly-talented, skilled and sought-after in the world. Many go on to have influential careers in a wide variety of areas. On behalf of the University community, I would like to congratulate our alumni and supporters on their new positions in the Houses of Parliament. We wish them every success in shaping the key decisions which are so important to the lives of us all, both in the UK and around the world.
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