Matthew Richard Allen Rodda (born 15 December 1966) is a British former journalist and civil servant, and a current Labour Party politician. He is the incumbent

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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for the

Reading East parliamentary constituency Reading East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Matt Rodda, of the Labour Party. The seat is one of two won (held or gained) by a Labour candidate in 2017 from a total of eight covering B ...

and Shadow Minister for Pensions.

Early life and career

Rodda was raised in Wallingford in South Oxfordshire. He attended 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 , ...

in the 1980s and trained as a journalist with Thomson. After graduating, he worked for the ''

Coventry Telegraph The ''Coventry Telegraph'' is a local English tabloid newspaper. It was founded as ''The Midland Daily Telegraph'' in 1891 by William Isaac Iliffe, and was Coventry's first daily newspaper. Sold for half a penny, it was a four-page broadsheet ne ...

'' and was also a journalist for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' newspaper, specialising in education news. He later became a civil servant in the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Departmen ...

, and subsequently worked in the charity sector and for the

Higher Education Academy Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

. In October 1999, he survived the

Ladbroke Grove rail crash The Ladbroke Grove rail crash (also known as the Paddington rail crash) was a rail accident which occurred on 5 October 1999 at Ladbroke Grove in London, England, when two passenger trains collided almost head-on after one of them had passed a ...

, an event to which he has attributed his desire to make a contribution to the community.

Politics

Local government and early parliamentary bids

Rodda was elected as a

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

for the Katesgrove Ward of

Reading Borough Council Reading Borough Council is the local authority for the Borough of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. Berkshire is purely a cerem ...

in 2011. He stood without success for election in the East Surrey parliamentary constituency at the 2010 general election, and for the

at the

2015 general election This national electoral calendar for 2015 lists the national/Federation, federal elections held in 2015 in all List of sovereign states, sovereign states and their Dependent territory, dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though na ...

MP in the 2017 parliament

Rodda was elected for the Reading East constituency on 8 June 2017 at the 2017 snap election. He received 27,093 votes, unseating the sitting MP, Rob Wilson of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, by a majority of 3,749. In January 2018, Rodda was promoted to a frontbench position in a Shadow Cabinet mini-shuffle, becoming the Shadow Minister for Local Transport.

MP in the 2019 parliament

In the general election held on 12 December 2019 Rodda was returned as the member of parliament for Reading East with an increased majority of 5,924. Rodda nominated

Emily Thornberry Emily Anne Thornberry (born 27 July 1960) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington South and Finsbury since 2005. A member of the Labour Party, she has served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wale ...

in the 2020 Labour leadership election. In the first

Shadow Cabinet of Keir Starmer Keir Starmer became Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom after being elected as Leader of the Labour Party on 4 April 2020. He appointed his Shadow Cabinet on 5 and 6 April. Background Following the Labour Party's defeat in th ...

, Rodda was appointed Shadow Minister for Buses. In January 2021, Rodda was appointed Shadow Minister for Pensions after

Jack Dromey John Eugene Joseph Dromey (29 September 1948 – 7 January 2022) was a British politician and trade unionist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Erdington from 2010 until his death. A member of the Labour Party, he was depu ...

was promoted to be to the Shadow Cabinet Office after

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

resigned to abstain on the Brexit Bill. Rodda was replaced by

Sam Tarry Samuel Peter Tarry (; born 27 August 1982) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford South since 2019. He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus. On 11 October 2022 he was deselected ...

References

External links

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Page on MyParliament website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodda, Matt 1966 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2017–2019 Alumni of the University of Sussex English journalists English civil servants Labour Party (UK) councillors Councillors in Berkshire Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Reading UK MPs 2019–present