Laura Elizabeth Kyrke-Smith (born 15 September 1983) is a British politician, academic and charity worker who has been theMember of Parliament (MP) forAylesbury since2024. A member of theLabour Party, she is the first Labour MP for Aylesbury as well as the first female MP to represent Aylesbury in theHouse of Commons.[1]
Kyrke-Smith was born in September 1983 to Peter St. L Kyrke-Smith, son of BHS Kyrke-Smith ofPenbedw estate nearNannerch in Wales, and to Lyndsay Madeleine Pelly, daughter of Peter Jeremy Pelly and his wife Dorothy Joan Hill.[2] On her maternal side, her four-times great grandfather was theHudson's Bay Company governor SirJohn Pelly, 1st Baronet, and through her grandmother her three-times great-grandfather wasSir Robert Keith Alexander Dick-Cunyngham, 7/9th Baronet.[2]
Kyrke-Smith was state educated before attendingRobinson College, Cambridge, from 2002 to 2005, where she read history and volunteered with the charity Student Action for Refugees.[3] She then went on to study for an MSc in international relations at theLondon School of Economics (LSE), graduating in 2007.[4]
Since 2013, Kyrke-Smith has served as UK Executive Director of theInternational Rescue Committee. In 2019, she became the UK Executive Director of the International Rescue Committee. From 2021-2024 she was on the Board of theDisasters Emergency Committee (DEC).[5][6][7] She previously worked as an assistant to Professor Charlie Beckett[8] at the Polis media project at the LSE.[9]
She is credited as a reader-contributor to the 3rd edition ofLonely Planet's Tanzania[10] and 2nd edition of The Rough Guide to Tanzania[11] guidebooks.
In the 2024 general election, she gained the Aylesbury seat fromRob Butler, a member of theConservative Party. Her victory ended a century-long streak of Conservative and Unionist MPs in Aylesbury, starting in the1924 general election.[14]
Kyrke-Smith, Laura (12 December 2007)."Kosovo: is the media wishing for war?".Polis Blog (London School of Economics and Political Science). London School of Economics. p. 1. Archived from the original on 9 July 2024. Retrieved9 July 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Beckett, Charlie; Kyrke-Smith, Laura (2007). "1 - 'On the eve of something big in media'". In Beckett, Charlie; Kyrke-Smith, Laura (eds.).Development, governance and the media: The role of the media in building African society(PDF) (1st ed.). POLIS – Journalism and Society (London School of Economics and Political Science). pp. 12–20. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 8 July 2024. Retrieved8 July 2024.
