Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones was born and raised in Croydon. She was head of campaigns for the homelessness charity Shelter, as well as working with the late former Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam and running campaigns at the NHS Confederation. Jones formed part of the team which worked with Tessa Jowell, helping the sports minister to successfully deliver the 2012 Games. After failing to win her seat in 2015 by just 165 votes, she defeated the Conservative housing minister Gavin Barwell in 2017. Her maiden speech focused on Grenfell, in which she quoted Stormzy, warning MPs: “You’re never too big for the boot”. Following her election, she joined the home affairs committee. Jones has highlighted the increase in knife crime in Croydon and went on to run a campaign urging a stronger government response to knife crime throughout the UK. Jones established the APPG on knife crime, becoming its chair. She has called knife crime the biggest symbol of a “generation abandoned and all aspiration lost”. In 2018, Jones became PPS to the shadow housing secretary and was later promoted to shadow housing minister. In 2020, she was appointed shadow minister for policing and the fire service.