Lloyd Cameron Russell-Moyle (born 14 September 1986) is a British
Labour and Co-operative Party politician who was elected as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for
Brighton Kemptown
Brighton Kemptown, often referred to as Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven by local political parties, is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour Co-op MP.
The consti ...
in the
2017 general election.
He retained his seat in the
2019 general election.
He is a member of the
Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary
caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.
The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
.
Early life and education
Russell-Moyle was born on 14 September 1986 in
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, England. He was educated at Wallands Primary School,
Priory School, Lewes,
and
Sussex Downs College. He studied at the
University of Bradford
The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...
and the
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
.
Russell-Moyle worked at the
National Youth Agency, chairing
The Woodcraft Folk and as vice-president of the
European Youth Forum based in Brussels.
Political career
Russell-Moyle stood in the
2015 general election for the
Lewes
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of t ...
constituency, coming fourth.
He was elected and served as a councillor on
Brighton and Hove City Council
Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services ...
in August 2016, before standing for and being elected as MP for
Brighton Kemptown
Brighton Kemptown, often referred to as Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven by local political parties, is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour Co-op MP.
The consti ...
in
2017.
In May 2018 Russell-Moyle as the Chair of the
All-Party Parliamentary Group
An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament.
Description and functions
All-party ...
on Youth Affairs launched an inquiry into "the Role and Sufficiency of Youth Work".
In the recommendations published in October 2018 Russell-Moyle highlighted the relevance and importance of the inquiry stating, "Over the years youth work has borne the brunt of significant spending cuts. Recent events and reports suggest the loss of youth work has had a negative impact on young people and communities".
On 10 December 2018, Russell-Moyle was suspended from the
House of Commons for the remainder of the day's sitting after he seized the
ceremonial mace
A ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high officials in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the or ...
in protest at the government's eleventh-hour deferral of the vote on the
EU Withdrawal Agreement, which had been scheduled for the following day.
On 5 March 2019, Russell-Moyle joined thirteen other Labour MPs on Westminster Bridge, next to the
Houses of Parliament, in a protest against
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...
under the banner 'Love Socialism Hate Brexit'.
Russell-Moyle was one of a number of MPs to light red flares on the bridge. The use of flares so close to Westminster drew the attention of uniformed police, who arrived by boat to inquire what was taking place.
During
Prime Minister's Questions, on 20 March 2019, Russell-Moyle urged
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
to "condemn"
Andrea Leadsom
Dame Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (; ' Salmon; born 13 May 1963) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Northamptonshire since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Secretary of State for Enviro ...
for the Cabinet Minister's comments on LGBT education.
Leadsom had made comments on radio that parents should decide when their children are "exposed" to LGBT education.
Leadsom's comments drew anger from many who felt, in Russell-Moyle's words, that "This is Conservative Party
dog-whistle politics".
Russell-Moyle also criticised the Prime Minister, stating that she had "campaigned to keep
Section 28" which prevented the "promotion of homosexuality", which Russell-Moyle said had "led to millions of young people like myself growing in fear of being LGBT".
Russell-Moyle was involved in a physical altercation on 21 March 2019 whilst out showing support for demonstrators leafleting for 'The People's March', a demonstration in support of the
People's Vote campaign.
Russell-Moyle described how an individual first began arguing with an
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since con ...
crew suggesting that they were part of a "mainstream media conspiracy to stop Brexit".
Russell-Moyle then approached the scene and said that he was an MP and that "the majority of
isconstituents had voted Remain". He said that this information exacerbated the situation further with the individual describing MPs as "traitors" and lunging at him.
The incident took place less than 24 hours after Prime Minister Theresa May gave a speech on Brexit in which she blamed MPs for deliberately delaying her attempt to ensure the UK left the EU by 29 March.
In June 2019, Russell-Moyle was criticised by the
Board of Deputies
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after only the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established ...
for hosting a
Stop the War coalition meeting in Parliament to which a representative of the Yemeni
Houthi group, Ahmed Alshami, had been invited.
[Daniel Sugarman. "Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle invites representative of antisemitic group to Parliament" '']Jewish Chronicle
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
'' 24 June 2019, https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/labour-mp-lloyd-russell-moyle-invites-representative-of-antisemitic-group-to-parliament-1.485737 The Board's Vice President stated that "hosting an organisation in the Houses of Parliament whose official slogan includes the phrase ‘death to Israel, curse the Jews’ is utterly unacceptable. Lloyd Russell-Moyle should immediately disavow his support for this event". Russell-Moyle described Alshami as "part of the delegation to the UN process...I support efforts to bring peace to Yemen, encouraging dialogue with people on all sides, however much I disagree with Mr Alshami
icviews".
Russell-Moyle later made his offer to host the meeting conditional on the non-participation of Alshami.
On 12 December 2019, Russell-Moyle was re-elected as a Labour MP to his Brighton Kemptown constituency. His speech on the night, which included an undertaking to "fight
he Toriesin ...the Parliament...the courts...the workplaces...the streets", aroused comment in the press and on social media. In December 2019, Russell-Moyle sparked controversy when he said he was not a "cunt" in refusing to call for
Corbyn to resign, during an exchange on instant messenger with a former party member, which was leaked to
''The Sun''.
Russell-Moyle was appointed Shadow Foreign Minister in January 2020, holding the brief for the Americas and Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacific and the Overseas Territories. Upon the election of
Keir Starmer as party leader, he was appointed as
Shadow Minister for Natural Environment and Air Quality.
In April 2020, Russell-Moyle was reported to have shared an unredacted version of a
Labour Party dossier into the handling of antisemitism, which contained the names and details of whistle-blowers.
In June 2020, he issued an apology after writing an article for ''
Tribune
Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on th ...
'' in which he accused
J. K. Rowling of using
her experience of domestic abuse and sexual assault to justify discrimination against transgender people.
On 16 July 2020, Russell-Moyle resigned from his frontbench role, citing a "campaign by the right-wing media" which he believes led to him and his staff receiving targeted abuse.
Select Committees and All Party Parliamentary Groups
Russell-Moyle is Chair of the
All-Party Parliamentary Group
An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament.
Description and functions
All-party ...
on Youth Affairs. Russell-Moyle is also listed as Chair
of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on
Kurdistan
Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languag ...
in Turkey and Syria, which replaced his Chairmanship of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for
Kurds ug:كۇردلار
Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...
in Iran; All-Party Parliamentary Group for
Rojava (Democratic Federation of Northern Syria) and Vice Chairmanship of Kurds in Turkey in the 2017–2019 Parliament.
Russell-Moyle is listed as Treasurer
of All-Party Parliamentary Groups on
HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
and on Universities and he is listed as Vice Chair
or Officer of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on
The Bahá'í Faith; Council Housing; Deaths Abroad, Consular Services and Assistance; Housing Market and Housing Delivery; Sixth Form Education and Vaccinations for All.
During the 2017–2019 Parliament Russell-Moyle was a member of following
Parliamentary committees
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
:
*
International Development Committee
*
Committees on Arms Export Controls
The Committees on Arms Export Controls (formerly the Quadripartite Committee) is the name for the concurrent meeting of four House of Commons select committees, comprising the International Trade Select Committee, the Defence Select Committee, the ...
, formerly
Quadripartite Committee
* International Development Sub-Committee on the Work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact
* Draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill (joint)
* Voyeurism (Offences) (No. 2) Bill
* Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) Bill
* Courts and Tribunals (Judiciary and Functions of Staff) Bill
ordsref name="Courts and Tribunals Bill">
* National Insurance Contributions (Termination Awards and Sporting Testimonials) Bill
* Civil Liability Bill
ordsref name="Civil Liability Bill">
* Courts and Tribunals (Online Procedure) Bill
ordsref name="Courts and Tribunals (Online) Bill">
In the 2019 Parliament Russell-Moyle has been member of the following
Parliamentary committees
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
:
*
*
International Trade Select Committee
*
Committees on Arms Export Controls
The Committees on Arms Export Controls (formerly the Quadripartite Committee) is the name for the concurrent meeting of four House of Commons select committees, comprising the International Trade Select Committee, the Defence Select Committee, the ...
, formerly
Quadripartite Committee
Russell-Moyle is an honorary associate of the
National Secular Society
The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...
.
[ National Secular Society. Retrieved 27 July 2019]
Personal life
In November 2018, during a House of Commons debate to mark the 30th
World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease. The acquired imm ...
,
Russell-Moyle revealed he had been diagnosed as
HIV positive
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...
a decade earlier,
saying he wanted to tackle the
stigma still associated with the condition and stating: "I have not only survived, I've prospered, and any partner I have is safe and protected",
making reference later in his speech to having an
undetectable viral load, as well as discussing
pre-exposure prophylaxis and
public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...
policy.
In disclosing his HIV status in a Parliamentary speech, he became the first MP to do so in the chamber of the House of Commons and only the second person (after
Chris Smith) to live openly with HIV as an MP.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell-Moyle, Lloyd
1986 births
Alumni of the University of Bradford
Alumni of the University of Sussex
Gay politicians
LGBT politicians from England
LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Living people
People educated at Priory School, Lewes
People educated at East Sussex College
People from Brighton
Councillors in East Sussex
Labour Party (UK) councillors
Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present
People associated with the Woodcraft Folk
People with HIV/AIDS
English socialists
Politicians from Brighton and Hove