Joshua MacAlister (born March 1987) is a British Labour politician and former teacher who has been Member of Parliament for

Whitehaven and Workington Whitehaven and Workington is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was contested for the first time at the 2024 general election, since w ...

since

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Early life and education

MacAlister's father worked as a social worker. MacAlister studied for, and received, an MA (Hons) in politics and social policy at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. MacAlister served as President of the Edinburgh University Students’ Association. In 2008, he unsuccessfully contested the Presidency of the

National Union of Students Scotland The National Union of Students Scotland is an autonomous body within the National Union of Students (United Kingdom), National Union of Students (NUS). It is the national representative body of Scotland, and serves to protect and caring about ...

. MacAlister also studied for, and received, a masters degree in leadership in education at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

Professional life

Teaching

MacAlister trained as a teacher through the

Teach First Teach First (also Teach First Cymru) is a social enterprise registered as a charity which aims to address educational disadvantage in England and Wales. Teach First coordinates an employment-based teaching training programme whereby participa ...

Programme and went on to work as a teacher in

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

Frontline

During his time as a teacher, MacAlister began to engage with young people with experience of the care system. These experiences led MacAlister to establish Frontline, a graduate social worker training programme modeled on Teach First, in 2013. The first cohort began their training the following year. In 2019, the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...

provided Frontline with £45 million in funding.

Independent Review of Children's Social Care

In January 2021 MacAlister stepped down from his role at Frontline in order to chair an independent review of children's social care. MacAlister's appointment was criticized by some social work academics who questioned whether he could be impartial given that Frontline had received central government funding. In June 2021, the review published its interim findings. In October 2021 the review published a second report in response to the feedback received on the interim report. The final report of the review was published in May 2022.

Awards

MacAlister was made an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the King's 2023

New Year's Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

for services to vulnerable children.

Member of Parliament

In June 2023, MacAlister was selected as the Labour Party's candidate for the newly created constituency of

. At the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, MacAlister was elected as the Member of Parliament for

. MacAlister was elected with 53% of the vote and a majority of over 13,000 votes.

Personal life

In 2023 MacAlister joined his local mountain rescue team. In July 2024, shortly after being elected as an MP, MacAlister was called out to a mountain rescue. In 2024,

PinkNews ''PinkNews'' is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning community (LGBTQ+) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in July 2005, initially released in print, b ...

listed him as an out

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

parliamentarian. He is married to educationalist Matthew Hood.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:MacAlister, Josh Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2024–present LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom English LGBTQ politicians Year of birth missing (living people)