Luke Akehurst | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of Parliament forNorth Durham | |
| Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Kevan Jones |
| Majority | 5,873 (14.1%) |
| Member of theNational Executive Committee of the Labour Party | |
| Assumed office November 2020 | |
| In office 2010–2012 | |
| Member ofHackney London Borough Council forChatham | |
| In office 2 May 2002 – 22 May 2014 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1972-03-02)2 March 1972 (age 53) |
| Political party | Labour |
| Other political affiliations | Labour First |
| Alma mater | University of Bristol (BSc) |
| Occupation | Former director ofWe Believe in Israel |
Luke Akehurst (born 2 March 1972) is a BritishLabour Party politician who has been theMember of Parliament (MP) forNorth Durham since2024.[1]
He is also a Labour Party official, and a former councillor. Since 2020, Akehurst has been a member of theNational Executive Committee of the Labour Party (NEC), having previously been on the NEC from 2010 until 2012.
Akehurst was privately educated atKent College, Canterbury. He received aBachelor of Science in Politics from theUniversity of Bristol in 1993.[2][3]
Akehurst worked in theBBC Political Research Unit from 1996 to 2000,[3] and at the communications firmWeber Shandwick from 2000 to 2011.[4]
Akehurst joined theLabour Party at 16 years old.[4] He contested Cabot ward at the1993 Avon County Council election, in which he came second to theLiberal Democrat candidate.[5] He also unsuccessfully contested the1995 Bristol City Council election inStoke Bishop ward.[6] Akehurst was National Secretary ofLabour Students from 1995 to 1996.[7]
Between 1996 and 1998, he was an officer forAnita Pollack, then aMember of the European Parliament, and a Labour organiser inHolborn and St Pancras. Akehurst was a political assistant to the Labour Group onHackney London Borough Council from 1998 to 2000.[3]
At the2001 general election, Akehurst ran as the Labour candidate inAldershot, coming third place behind incumbentConservative MPGerald Howarth and theLiberal Democrat Adrian Collett, in what has traditionally been asafe seat for the Conservatives.[4][8]
In the2002 Hackney borough council election, Akehurst was successfully elected to the council, representingChatham ward. He was reelected to the council in2006 and again in2010, before standing down at the2014 Hackney Council election.[4][9]
At the2005 general election, he ran inCastle Point. In the run up to the election, Akehurst criticised an anti-immigration advert that sitting Conservative MPBob Spink had published as "appalling comments that whip up racial tension" and "reminiscent of the worse utterances ofEnoch Powell."[10] Akehurst came second to Spink.[4][11]
In 2006, Akehurst became Secretary ofLabour First, which representsmoderates and "the old Labour Right".[12][13] Under his leadership, the organisation has been committed to "Clause One socialism" of prioritising getting Labour candidates elected toparliament above policy,[14] as well as advocating for a party "safe from the organised hard left".[4]
In 2010, Akehurst was elected to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party.[15] He was not re-elected in 2012.[16][17]
During the2015 Labour leadership election, Labour First urgedProgress to join in supporting "ABC" (Anyone ButCorbyn).[13][18] Akehurst supportedYvette Cooper's campaign.[13]
In 2016, Akehurst attempted to run for a position on the NEC within theConstituency Labour Party (CLP) section, under the Corbyn-sceptic joint slate of candidates between Labour First and Progress, but the slate failed to achieve any candidates, all being beaten by the Momentum backedCLPD slate.[19]
Akehurst spoke out againstJeremy Corbyn's leadership of the party numerous times.[20] In a 2019 speech at aJewish Labour Movement rally, Akehurst said he had nearly left the party over anti-Semitism, and hoped that Corbyn could be removed as leader.[21][22] On social media, he described theUnited Nations as antisemitic and said that Jews were "politically black". He has been criticised for whatThe Guardian described as "his efforts to wrest control of Labour's national executive committee, conference agenda and constituency Labour parties from the Corbynite left".[23] Akehurst has been referred to as subsequent Labour leaderKeir Starmer's "leading cheerleader on the NEC" by Ronan Burtenshaw, editor ofTribune. Akehurst said of Starmer's attitude: "Voters like it when Labour leaders put the hard left back in their box".[24]
In 2018, Akehurst attempted to run for a position the NEC within the CLP section, again under the Labour First–Progress slate.[25] Akehurst achieved 49 CLP nominations,[26] but the slate failed to achieve any candidates, beaten by the pro-Corbyn joint Momentum–CLPD–CLGA slate.[25]
Akehurst is described as a non-JewishZionist and from 2011 to 2024 was employed as director of the pro-Israel groupWe Believe in Israel.[23][27][28] He has described Israel's actions inGaza as proportionate.Momentum said Akehurst's views on Israel's actions were "a slap in the face to voters across the country already outraged by Labour's failings on Gaza".[23]
As secretary of Labour First, he was involved in 2020 talks with Progress, which established the pro-Starmer umbrella groupLabour to Win.[29]
In 2020, Akehurst was reelected in the first round to the Labour Party's NEC under the Labour to Win slate of nominees.[30] He received more votes than any other candidate.[31][32] In 2022, he was re-elected again and once more topped the polls.[33]
In the2021 Oxford City Council elections, Akehurst ran for the St. Mary's ward, and came in third place.[34]
In May 2024, it was announced that Akehurst was to stand in the2024 general election as the Labour Party candidate for North Durham.[35] The nomination was criticised by left-wingers and pro-Palestine activists due to Akehurst's previous accusations against Palestinian civilians in the Israel-Hamas war of being paidcrisis actors, and of theUnited Nations of being antisemitic.[36][37] This led to acrowdfunding campaign opposing his nomination.[38] Around the time of his nomination, Akehurst deleted hundreds of tweets including criticism of Jews, support forillegal settlements in the West Bank andGuantanamo Bay, and congratulating theGreen Party.[4][39] This led to accusations of inconsistent standards, as the NEC had removedFaiza Shaheen as a parliamentary candidate for liking social media posts by Green Party members.[40]
In June 2024, Labour councillor and Momentum activist Martin Abrams, who is Jewish, submitted a complaint of antisemitism against Akehurst to the party. In a speech in 2020, Akehurst had said thatMarxist Jews "have abandoned very much of their Jewish identity, they don't go to shul [synagogue] at all. You know, it's become a purely cultural thing around the occasional bowl of chicken soup or whatever." Abrams said "I believe Luke Akehurst's comments are deeply antisemitic by trying to define anti-Zionist Jews out of Judaism. The Good Jew, Bad Jew trope."[39]
Akehurst was elected as the Member of Parliament for North Durham in July 2024, holding the seat for Labour.[1]
In November 2024, Akehurst voted in favour of theTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legaliseassisted suicide.[41][non-primary source needed]
Akehurst is married toOxford councillor Linda Smith.[42] He has two children. In 2009 he developedPOEMS syndrome, which left him hospitalised for five months and using a wheelchair for nine months afterwards. He now usesorthotics and a walking stick.[43]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forNorth Durham 2024–present | Incumbent |
