The new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has welcomed seven new Jewish MPs into Parliament as part of his landslide victory. Who are they and what are they promising?
Sarah Sackman
[Missing Credit]
Seat: Finchley and Golders Green
Majority: 4,581
l The parliamentary constituency with the most Jewish voters in the country was won by the 39-year-old barrister and member of the Masorti New North London Synagogue.
She told the JC she was aiming to make Finchley and Golders Green an area where people feel safe on their streets and improve public services. She added: “I will be campaigning to tackle the antisemitism that has rocketed since the pogrom of October 7. In particular, I want to hold the social media giants to account over the hate that is spread on their platforms. I also want to ensure that children with special educational needs are getting the right support.”
David Pinto-Duschinsky
[Missing Credit]
Seat: Hendon
Majority: 15
The election result in Hendon took the meaning of “marginal” constituency to a whole new level. Ballots were recounted four times in the north London seat with the second-largest number of Jewish voters in the capital.
David Pinto-Duschinsky has the smallest parliamentary majority of any MP; he defeated the Conservatives’ Ameet Jogia MBE by a mere 15 votes.
The son of a Shoah survivor and former adviser to the late Labour chancellor Alistair Darling, he told the JC: “I’ll fight for help with the cost-of-living crisis, to get our local NHS back on its feet, to get more police on our streets, better schools and a better deal for renters and leaseholders. I’ll campaign from day one on combatting antisemitism and for community safety.”
Ben Coleman
Labour MP Ben Coleman. Credit: Twitter/X[Missing Credit]
Seat: Chelsea and Fulham
Majority: 152
The sentence “Labour gain Chelsea and Fulham” might have seemed absurd just a few years ago. But one of the poshest areas of London turned red for the first time since the seat was created.
Jewish Labour candidate Ben Coleman defeated the Conservative minister for London Greg Hands.
Coleman said he will be campaigning on “health and social care, small businesses, Europe and equalities”.
Peter Prinsley
Doctor and parliamentary candidate for Labour Peter Prinsley[Missing Credit]
Seat: Bury St Edmunds and
Stowmarket
Majority: 1,452
l One of the biggest upsets of election night took place in once true-blue Suffolk. Labour’s Peter Prinsley, a Jewish surgeon and member of Norwich Synagogue, defeated former Theresa May and Rishi Sunak special adviser Will Tanner in the East Anglia constituency.
This is the first time in history that the area has elected a Labour representative. Prinsley, 66, who has worked as an ENT consultant surgeon, told local news site Suffolk News: “I got into politics because of the frustrations I sensed with the health service and I hope very much to be able to make some healthy contributions.”
Matthew Patrick
Labour MP Matthew Patrick[Missing Credit]
Seat: Wirral West
Majority: 9,998
The son of a librarian and a teaching assistant succeeded Corbynite Margaret Greenwood as the MP for the Merseyside constituency. Patrick served as a local councillor in the Wirral from 2013 to 2018. He told the JC: “I care deeply about ambition and opportunities. I want to work with our schools, job centres and public bodies to be ambitious and deliver for people. Having worked in financial services, I know there are many things we can do to unleash our economy.” He added that he wanted “to be a voice for pragmatic, compassionate and outward-looking internationalism as Labour returns Britain to a respected leader on the world stage”.
Georgia Gould
[Missing Credit]
Seat: Queen’s Park and Maida Vale
Majority: 14,913
The daughter of New Labour architect the late Philip Gould and publisher and peer Baroness Gail Rebuck, Labour is very much in Gould’s DNA.
She was first elected a local councillor in Camden in 2010 and went on to become leader of the council in 2017.
The 38-year-old has said she felt “so much hope for the future to be alongside so many passionate people who care about their communities and changing the country”.
Josh Simons
[Missing Credit]
Seat: Makerfield
Majority: 5,399
The former director of pro-Starmer think tank Labour Together won the traditionally Labour north west constituency, despite a surge of support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Simons, 30, who previously served in Jeremy Corbyn’s office in what he said was a “brief but unpleasant stint”, told the JC he would be campaiging on levelling up and controlling UK borders.
To get more Politics news, click here to sign up for our free politics newsletter.