Biography

John has been the Member of Parliament for Leyton and Wanstead since May 2010 and from 1997 to 2005 he was the Member of Parliament for nearby Hornchurch, winning by one of the biggest swings in the country, and holding the constituency in 2001.

Before being an MP he worked as a journalist on various newspapers and magazines and has also worked for two trade unions, Unite and Aslef.

After being elected John said: "This is a huge honour - to be the new MP for Leyton and Wanstead and to represent thousands of constituents in Leyton, Leytonstone, Wanstead and Snaresbrook."

He voted against the war in Iraq seven times and voted against the then Labour government on a number of other issues including the introduction of tuition fees in 1998. Since returning to parliament, he has campaigned hard against the abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowance, the tripling of top-up fees for university students and the cutting of benefits.

He has also campaigned against the threat to King George's Hospital in Redbridge and to Leyton Green clinic. He works with local community and church groups and has close ties to a number of local mosques and the Leyton Gurdwara. He also visits local schools regularly and Leyton Sixth Form College.

John is a critic of the European Union because it is anti-democratic and is
opposed to proportional representation (he campaigned against the Alternative Vote system in the recent referendum). His priorities are the redistribution of wealth, job creation, and preserving universal benefits and the NHS.

John has spent most of his adult life living in East London where he brought up three children who attended local schools. He has therefore made use of GP and hospital services, libraries, schools, leisure facilities and parks in East London over many years. Those experiences have led him to be a tireless campaigner on local issues.

In 2010 he was elected by other MP's to the parliamentary committee, which is the ruling body of the Parliamentary Labour Party and he was then re-elected in 2012. He was also elected to be a member of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee 2010-2011 (this was the first time MP's elected the membership of select committees).

Find out about John's journey from child "film star" to MP from an article in the Ilford Recorder dated 4th August 2011.

The article gives an insight into John's background and goes some way to explain his passion for addressing injustice and poverty.