Charlotte Nichols

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Charlotte Nichols
MP
Official portrait of Charlotte Nichols MP crop 2.jpg
Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
In office
12 November 2020 – 14 September 2021
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byJanet Daby
Succeeded byTaiwo Owatemi
Member of Parliament
for Warrington North
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byHelen Jones
Majority1,509 (3.2%)
Personal details
Born (1991-04-05) 5 April 1991 (age 30)
Romford, London, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materUniversity of Liverpool
WebsiteOfficial website

Charlotte Louise Nichols[1] (born 5 April 1991)[2] is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Warrington North since the 2019 general election. Prior to her political career, she worked as a trade union official.

Early life[]

Nichols was born in Romford, London, England and grew up in Reading, Berkshire. She has three sisters and three step-siblings.[3][4] Her father Ged Nichols is the general secretary of the financial services trade union Accord and was appointed as the president of the TUC in 2019. Her earliest experience of politics was during her school years when she helped run UK Youth Parliament sessions with Conservative MP Theresa May.[5] She studied politics at the University of Liverpool, graduating in 2013.[6] After graduation, she worked in Salford for five years for the USDAW trade union.[7]

Parliamentary career[]

Nichols stood as the Labour candidate for Warrington North at the 2019 general election. She was elected with a majority of 1,509 votes.[8] Prior to the election, Nichols worked as a national research and policy officer for the GMB trade union and was a previous women's officer of the youth wing of the party, Young Labour. She identifies ideologically as being on the left-wing of the Labour Party.[9][10] Nichols supported Rebecca Long-Bailey in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, but nominated Emily Thornberry to broaden the field of candidates.[11][12]

After her election, she was the centre of a controversy when she tweeted in October that a group of S.S. Lazio fans who had been filmed making Nazi salutes in Glasgow should "get their heads kicked in". Nichols defended her comments in December, "These were people doing Nazi salutes on the streets of Britain... As a Jewish person whose grandfather fought in World War Two, ultimately sometimes I believe that fascism has to be physically confronted".[13][14]

In the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn, she served as the PPS to Tracy Brabin as Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for a brief period during the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, before being moved in the Shadow Cabinet of Sir Keir Starmer to being PPS to Emily Thornberry as Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade.[15] When Ruth Jones was promoted to Shadow Air Qualities Minister, Nichols replaced her as PPS to Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Louise Haigh.[16]

On 12 November 2020, Nichols was appointed Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.[17] She stepped down from this role in September 2021 citing personal reasons.[18]

On 2 April 2021, Nichols apologised to the Traveller communities after she distributed an election leaflet which pledged to deal with "Traveller incursions".[19]

In November 2021, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace wrote to Nichols and two SNP MPs after they were reported to be inebriated on a flight to Gibraltar as part of a Armistice Day commeration. She responded that she had not been drinking heavily and had reduced tolerance due to a medication she was taking for a mental health episode, which the BBC reported was post-traumatic stress disorder.[20]

Personal life[]

Nichols converted to Reform Judaism in 2014.[9][21] She is bisexual.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ "Members Sworn". parliament.uk. 18 December 2019. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  2. ^ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 374. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  3. ^ Nichols, Charlotte (11 November 2019). "I'm Not Running for Myself, I'm Running for My Class". Jacobin. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  4. ^ Nichols, Charlotte (6 November 2019). "Why I'm Standing for Warrington North". Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  5. ^ a b Le Conte, Marie (8 April 2021). "New House Rules: Meet The 4 Female MPs Reshaping The Labour Party". Vogue. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  6. ^ "The 14 former Liverpool students contesting General Election 2019". University of Liverpool. 6 December 2019. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  7. ^ "Class of 2019: Meet the new MPs". Politics Home. 16 December 2019. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Warrington North". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Jewish Labour candidate: Party's antisemitism problem is 'more nuanced' than is alleged". The Jewish Chronicle. 9 December 2019. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Charlotte Nichols set to replace Helen Jones in Warrington North". LabourList. 5 November 2019. Archived from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Rolling list: MP/MEP nominations for Labour leadership candidates". LabourList. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  12. ^ Nichols, Charlotte [@charlotte2153] (10 January 2020). "I will be supporting Rebecca Long Bailey for leader. As both she & fellow North West MP Lisa Nandy have the required nominations, I have leant my nomination to Emily Thornberry to ensure Labour members in Warrington North (and elsewhere) can choose from a full field of candidates" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 January 2020 – via Twitter.
  13. ^ McCann, Phil (17 December 2019). "New Labour MP defends 'heads kicked in' tweet". BBC News. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  14. ^ "Newly-elected Jewish MP defends saying Nazis should get 'heads kicked in'". Jewish News. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  15. ^ Nichols, Charlotte [@charlotte2153] (15 April 2020). "Getting lots of practice ahead of the "Digital Parliament" returning next week with meetings over Zoom, including today my first Shadow Frontbench meeting post-reshuffle as part of the Shadow International Trade team following my appointment as @EmilyThornberry's PPS!" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 April 2020 – via Twitter.
  16. ^ Rodgers, Sienna (12 August 2020). "Ruth Jones promoted to replace Lloyd Russell-Moyle in Labour's Defra team". LabourList. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  17. ^ Nichols, Charlotte [@charlotte2153] (11 November 2020). "Thank you Marsha!" (Tweet). Retrieved 12 November 2020 – via Twitter.
  18. ^ Dhillon, Aran (16 September 2021). "Warrington North MP steps down as shadow minister". Warrington Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  19. ^ Quinn, Ben (2 April 2021). "Labour to destroy local election leaflet carrying anti-Travellers pledge". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  20. ^ "Row over 'drunk' MPs on Gibraltar military visit". BBC News. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  21. ^ "'Abuse on the campaign trail doesn't shock me any more'". BBC News. 21 December 2019. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Warrington North
2019–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from ""