Kevin McKenna (born 1974) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Sittingbourne and Sheppey Sittingbourne and Sheppey is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2024 general election by Kevin McKenna, a Labour politician and qualified nurse. Boundaries 1997–2010: The Borough of Sw ...

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 ...

. He gained the seat from the Conservative Party.

Early life and career

McKenna was born in

Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies north ...

and grew up in

Welling Welling is a town in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley, west of Bexleyheath, southeast of Woolwich and of Charing Cross. It was part of Kent prior to the creation of Greater London i ...

, in the London Borough of Bexley. He was educated at St Stephen's Catholic Primary School in Welling and Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School. McKenna studied microbiology at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

and later qualified as a

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a healthcare professional who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized ...

in the 1990s at the Nightingale Institute at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, a career change he made after exposure to the work of nurses caring for his friends impacted by the AIDS epidemic. He worked in the NHS as a frontline nurse in critical care in a number of London hospitals including

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) is an NHS foundation trust based in London, United Kingdom. It comprises University College Hospital, University College Hospital at Westmoreland Street, the UCH Macmillan Cancer C ...

and later in strategy on nationwide NHS programmes at

NHS England NHS England, formally the NHS Commissioning Board for England, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning si ...

. In 2015, McKenna was a Darzi Fellow in clinical leadership. During the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, McKenna worked as a matron at

NHS Nightingale Hospital London The NHS Nightingale Hospital London was the first of the NHS Nightingale Hospitals, temporary hospitals set up by NHS England for the COVID-19 pandemic. It was housed in the ExCeL London convention centre in East London. The hospital was rapi ...

. McKenna decided to go into politics as a result of his post at NHS England, which he said made him want to create policy rather than administer it, and because of a lack of representation for nurses in Westminster. He was unsuccessful as the Labour candidate for the Bexley and Bromley at the

2024 London Assembly election The 2024 election to the London Assembly was held on 2 May concurrently with the 2024 London mayoral election, London mayoral election and 2024 United Kingdom local elections, local elections across England and Wales. Background In the 2021 Lon ...

. He was selected as the Labour candidate for Sittingbourne and Sheppey on 23 May 2024. McKenna was elected as an officer of the All-party parliamentary group for Health in October 2024. He was one of seven MPs from a healthcare background to sign a letter calling on Parliament to back assisted dying legislation, saying it would benefit patients.

Personal life

McKenna lives in Sittingbourne with his husband. He is a self-professed "

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

geek". On 13 February 2025, McKenna announced in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

that he is living with

HIV 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 im ...

References

External links

* * 1974 births Living people Alumni of King's College London Alumni of the University of Warwick English LGBTQ politicians English gay politicians Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom People educated at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School People from Erith People from Welling UK MPs 2024–present People with HIV/AIDS {{improve categories, date=July 2024