Kevin Brennan

The son of a steelworker and a school dinner lady, Kevin Brennan read PPE at Oxford, and was elected president of the Oxford Union with the support of William Hague. Brennan qualified as a teacher and taught at Radyr Comprehensive for almost ten years until 1994, also serving as a member of Cardiff Council between 1991 and 2001. In the 2001 general election he was elected as the MP for Cardiff West. He was an assistant government whip under Tony Blair and served in several positions under Gordon Brown including minister of state for further education, skills and apprenticeships and consumer affairs. Ed Miliband appointed Brennan as shadow schools minister, a role he served in for five years until Jeremy Corbyn made him shadow trade minister in 2015. He resigned nine months later following a motion of no confidence in Corbyn passed by Labour MPs. Brennan was shadow minister for digital, culture, media and sport and arts and heritage from October 2016 until April 2020. He currently sits on the digital, culture, media and sport committee.