Alison McGovern

With a varied background working for Network Rail, the Art Fund, and Creativity, Culture and Education – as well as for the House of Commons as a researcher – Alison McGovern has served as the Labour member of parliament for Wirral South since 2010. Upon her entry into parliament, McGovern was appointed as Gordon Brown’s parliamentary private secretary and later that year became a member of the International Development Committee and the Speaker’s Advisory Cmmittee on Works of Art. McGovern has a long-standing involvement with Progress; indeed she was forced to resign from Labour’s policy review on child poverty and inequality in 2016 after shadow chancellor John McDonnell accused the organisation of having a “hard right agenda”, incompatible with the wider Labour party. McGovern is an outspoken remainer and has also held shadow ministerial roles in education and international development as well serving as opposition whip from 2013-14. McGovern resigned from her most recent role as shadow minister in the Treasury team following Corbyn’s election in 2015 and did not hold an opposition frontbench position until becoming shadow minister for digital, culture, media and sport in April 2020.