Karl Turner

Karl Turner was first elected as the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East in 2010. He credits New Labour’s life-long learning agenda for his success, saying it allowed him to get back into education after leaving school at 16. He completed his A-Levels in the late 1990s and studied law at the University of Hull, before becoming a barrister, practising criminal law at the Max Gold Partnership and then Wilberforce Chambers. In 2008, he was selected as the Labour candidate for Kingston upon Hull East after the incumbent MP and former deputy prime minister John Prescott announced he was standing down. He joined the Justice Committee shortly after his election and in 2012 joined the Home Affairs Committee in addition. The following year he became an assistant whip and in 2014 joined Ed Miliband’s front bench as shadow solicitor general. Under the newly elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Turner became shadow justice minister in 2015 and shortly after was promoted to shadow attorney general. Following the 2017 general election, he was appointed shadow minister for shipping, aviation and road safety and became a member of the Regulatory Reform Committee.