Keir Mather | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Aviation, Maritime and Decarbonisation | |
| Assumed office 8 September 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer |
| Preceded by | Mike Kane |
| Assistant Government Whip | |
| In office 10 July 2024 – 7 September 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer |
| Opposition Whip | |
| In office 26 March 2024 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Leader | Keir Starmer |
| Member of Parliament forSelby Selby and Ainsty (2023–2024) | |
| Assumed office 20 July 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Nigel Adams |
| Majority | 10,195 (20.7%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Keir Alexander Mather (1998-01-29)29 January 1998 (age 27) Kingston upon Hull, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Education | |
| Signature |  |
| Website | www |
Keir Alexander Mather[1] (/kɪərˈmeɪðər/; born 29 January 1998) is a BritishLabour politician who has beenMember of Parliament (MP) forSelby, formerlySelby and Ainsty, since2023. He has served as aParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport since September 2025, making him the youngest minister sinceWilliam Ewart Gladstone in 1834.
Keir Mather was born in 1998 inKingston upon Hull.[2][3] He was named afterKeir Hardie, the founder of the Labour Party.[4][2] Mather grew up inBrough.[4] His mother, Jill Tambaros (née Golding),[5] is a supply teacher, and his father, Mick Mather, is a support worker.[6] His father is also a Labour Party activist.[7] Mather was a member of theYouth Parliament, and set up a Labour group for young people in Hull.[4][8] He was educated "for a short time" at a privateprep school,[9] and then at state schools includingSouth Hunsley School inMelton.[10][7] His mother recalled, in 2023, that Mather was interested in politics as a schoolboy: "When he was 16, I was dropping him off at the office of every MP in Hull, ... He said 'I'm going to introduce myself to them'. I thought it was funny he was so determined to go and see all those MPs".[11]
He then went to theUniversity of Oxford, graduating with a first in History and Politics atWadham College,[12] before receiving aMaster of Public Policy (MPP) degree atUniversity College.[13] According to Paul Martin, Mather's politics tutor at Oxford, Mather was specifically interested inNew Labour and "had a lifelong interest" in its major figures.[14] Intent on becoming an MP,[6] Mather studied for the MPP at Oxford'sBlavatnik School of Government as a Political Leadership Scholar in a scheme that was "open to applicants from the UK and Republic of Ireland who intend to run for public office".[15] While a student at Oxford, he was an appointed official of theOxford Union debating society as head of research,[16] and was also a co-chair of theOxford University Labour Club.[17]
Whilst at Oxford University, Mather worked as a researcher forThe Times journalist and formerConservative MPMatthew Parris.[18]
Mather then worked as a public affairs adviser for theConfederation of British Industry for 18 months before entering Parliament and was a parliamentary researcher for Labour MPWes Streeting from 2019 to 2020.[19]
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Mather was first elected to the House of Commons as MP forSelby and Ainsty at the2023 Selby and Ainsty by-election with a 46% share of the vote and a majority of 4,161 votes.[20][21] The previous Conservative majority of 20,137 votes, secured by the resigning MPNigel Adams in the2019 general election, was the largest ever overturned by Labour in a by-election. It also represented the biggestswing for a Labour by-election candidate since the1994 Dudley West by-election.[22][23]
Aged 25 when elected, Mather became the youngest serving MP, known as theBaby of the House, succeeding Labour MPNadia Whittome ofNottingham East, who is two years his senior; she was first elected in the 2019 general election at the age of 23.[24] Upon his election, theVeterans' Affairs MinisterJohnny Mercer said that parliament "mustn't become a repeat ofThe Inbetweeners". This was considered to be a derogatory remark towards Mather's age, which Mercer denied.[14][25] Multiple Labour politicians, including party leader SirKeir Starmer, criticised Mercer's comment.[26]The Guardian noted that former UK Prime MinistersWilliam Ewart Gladstone andWinston Churchill first became MPs at the ages of 22 and 25 respectively.[26] Mather ceased to be the youngest MP whenSam Carling (born 2002) was elected in2024.
Mather was sworn in as an MP on 4 September 2023, following the summer break,[27] along withSarah Dyke andSteve Tuckwell.[28] Dyke, aLiberal Democrat, was elected forSomerton and Frome, and Tuckwell, from the Conservative Party, was elected forUxbridge and South Ruislip intwoby-elections held the same day as Mather's. In interviews withBBC News andThe Press from the same month, Mather said his main priority as an MP was to support people affected by thecost of living crisis. Other priorities included addressing insufficientSEND provision, rural crime,anti-social behaviour, underpeformingNHS services, little public transport provision and supporting small businesses.[29][6] Mather made hismaiden speech on 16 October 2023, during a debate on Early Years Childcare.[30][31]
Mather became a member of theTreasury Select Committee on 20 November 2023.[32] On 26 March 2024, he was appointed to theopposition frontbench of Keir Starmer as anopposition whip.[33][34][35]
Due to the2023 review of Westminster constituencies, Mather's constituency of Selby and Ainsty was abolished, and replaced withSelby. At the2024 general election, Mather was elected to Parliament as MP for Selby with 46.3% of the vote and a majority of 10,195.[36][37]
He was appointed a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport on7 September 2025,[38] making him the youngest minister sinceWilliam Ewart Gladstone in 1834.[39]
Mather voted for Remain in theBrexit referendum. He does not support rejoining theEuropean Union or holding asecond referendum on the issue.[29]
In 2023, Mather said he supported Labour leader Keir Starmer's policy of maintaining thetwo-child benefit cap, adding: "I think we're going to inherit an absolute economic mess from the Conservatives when we take power and we're going to have to make extremely difficult decisions once we do, and I support the Labour government in doing so."[40][24]
Ongender identity, Mather has said "a woman is like my mum or my stepsister, somebody who is born biologically a woman. But there is a very small minority of people who feel like they've been born into the wrong gender and they deserve respect and care."[7] In 2018, during a debate at the Oxford Union, Mather allegedly calledGermaine Greer "an abhorrent transphobe" for stating thattransgender women were not women. He also said Greer had made "dehumanising and downright dangerous comments about transgender women". When asked if he wanted to renounce his statements about Greer as an MP in 2023, Mather said: "What I said is on the record. I really strongly disagree with her outlook and approach to the issue."[41][7]
He is a member of theFabian Society.[42]
Mather is gay.[43] He supports the rugby league clubHull Kingston Rovers.[4]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forSelby and Ainsty 2023–2024 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forSelby 2024–present | Incumbent |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Baby of the House 2023–2024 | Succeeded by |
