Nick Thomas-Symonds

Nick Thomas-Symonds is the shadow home secretary. He was first elected as the Labour MP for Torfaen in 2015. Born in Blaenavon, Thomas-Symonds read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. At the age of 21 he became a lecturer in politics. In 2004, he qualified as a barrister and practises in chancery and commercial law. He began his political career in 2015 when he was elected as the MP for Torfaen. Shortly after his election, he joined the Justice Committee and later that year became shadow employment minister. Thomas-Symonds voted to remain in the EU during the 2016 referendum. As his constituency voted to leave, Thomas-Symonds said he would like “a deal that we could vote for and coalesce around”, however he voted against Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement, comparing it to “being asked to go on a magical mystery tour”. He resigned from his position as shadow employment minister in the wake of the referendum alongside several other shadow ministers and supported Owen Smith in the ensuing leadership election. In October 2016 he became shadow solicitor general and in 2017 was appointed to the additional role of shadow security minister. Thomas-Symonds recently chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Off-Patent Drugs, Industrial Heritage, Legal and Constitutional Affairs, and Archives and History. He has written biographies of Clement Attlee and Aneurin Bevan and is currently working on a biography of Harold Wilson. He nominated Sir Keir Starmer to be Labour’s next leader and was appointed shadow home secretary in April 2020.