British Labour politician
Jessica Elizabeth Morden
(born 29 May 1968) is a British politician serving as
Member of Parliament
(MP) for
Newport East
since 2005. A member of the
Labour Party
, she was General Secretary of
Welsh Labour
from 1999 until her election to Parliament.
Early life and career
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Morden was born in
Surrey
,
England
and brought up in
Cwmbran
and educated at
Croesyceiliog School
before reading Medieval and Modern History (
BA
) at
University of Birmingham
.
In 1991, Morden worked for
Huw Edwards
, MP for
Monmouth
and between 1992 and 1995 she worked for
Llew Smith
, MP for
Blaenau Gwent
. Before becoming an MP, Morden was General Secretary of the
Welsh Labour
from 1999 to 2005. She organised some of Labour's election campaigns for the
1997 election
.
[1]
Parliamentary career
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Morden was selected as the Labour Party candidate for
Newport East
in 2005 by the
all-women shortlists
method.
[1]
She was elected as the first female MP in South East Wales with a 6,800 majority.
Jessica served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Wales The Rt Hon Peter Hain MP until May 2010, and later as Shadow Parliamentary Private Secretary to Owen Smith MP during his time as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales.
In her first term Jessica completed the Police Parliamentary Scheme, spending a month during recess with a range of Departments and frontline Police Officers in Gwent Police. She was also appointed by the Speaker to the Members’ Advisory Committee to oversee the setting up of the first ever Nursery in the House of Commons.
Jessica served as a Senior Whip in the Opposition Whips’ office with responsibility for EU Withdrawal, Wales and Prime Minister's Questions. She was elected as chair of the
Select Committee on Statutory Instruments
in November 2018 and, following the dissolution of Parliament, re-elected in February 2020.
Morden claimed a total of £167,060 in expenses in 2007/08, the 30th highest amount claimed by the 643 members of the House of Commons. Within approved guidelines, Morden used some of the expenses allowance which was unspent from the previous year to provide additional office space after having a baby;
[2]
the previous year she claimed £133,592, the 406th highest that year.
[3]
In March 2008 Jessica Morden was criticized by some of her constituents after voting against a Conservative parliamentary motion to halt the closure of hundreds of Post Offices whilst simultaneously campaigning to save the Christchurch Road branch in Newport East.
[4]
She supported
Owen Smith
in the failed attempt to replace
Jeremy Corbyn
in the
2016 Labour leadership election
.
[5]
Jessica Morden was re-elected at the
2017 general election
with a much increased majority of 8,003. She was again re-elected in
2019 general election
with a reduced majority of 1,992.
In February 2023, she was appointed
Parliamentary Private Secretary
to the
Leader of the Opposition
Keir Starmer. In the
September 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle
, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Wales.
[6]
Charity work
[
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Morden is one of nine presidents of The
Young People's Trust for the Environment
.
[7]
References
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External links
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