Jon Trickett

Jon Trickett was first elected as the Labour MP for Hemsworth in 1996. Trickett’s politics were shaped by the Vietnam anti-war movement and during the 1975 Common Market referendum he was the secretary of the “No” campaign in Leeds. During that time he was a member of the Independent Labour Party. He began his political career when he was elected as a councillor for Beeston ward on Leeds City Council and later became leader of the council. In the 1996 Hemsworth by-election, Trickett was elected as an MP and shortly after was appointed as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Peter Mandelson. Trickett later served on the Education and Employment Committee and the Public Accounts Committee. He was a vocal opponent of the Iraq War and also rebelled against the Labour government on the replacement of Trident and the Terrorism Act 2006. Despite these rebellions, he was appointed as PPS to Gordon Brown in 2008. Trickett later served as shadow Cabinet Office minister under Ed Miliband and joined Corbyn’s shadow cabinet as shadow communities secretary, shadow lord president of the council, shadow business minister and shadow Cabinet Office minister.