Leeds MPs
BURGON, Richard (born 1980) Labour. Trade union lawyer.
He is a nephew of former Labour MP Colin Burgon. He became a trade union lawyer straight from leaving Cambridge. For more than a decade he helped working people in East Leeds who faced redundancy, discrimination and pay cuts. In 2015 he stood for the safe seat of Leeds East and succeeded in increasing the Labour majority of 2010 by 2,240 votes. His arrival at Westminster was controversial in that when he took his oath of allegiance to the Queen, he called for the abolition of the Monarchy declaring that the Royals should be replaced by an elected head of state. He is considered to be on the hard left of the party and consequently in the 2015 leadership campaign for the party, he was one of the thirty-six Labour MPs who nominated the left-wing contender Jeremy Corbyn. Following his election as leader, Corbyn appointed Burgon as shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury. For further reading see http://www.richardburgon.com.