Tom Rutland | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of Parliament forEast Worthing and Shoreham | |
| Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Tim Loughton |
| Majority | 9,519 (19.4%) |
| Member ofLambeth London Borough Council forStreatham Common and Vale | |
| In office 5 May 2022 – 2 May 2024 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 1992 (age 33–34) |
| Party | Labour |
| Alma mater | Jesus College, Oxford (PPE) |
| Website | Official website |
Thomas William Rutland[1] (born February 1992) is a BritishLabour Party politician who has served asMember of Parliament (MP) forEast Worthing and Shoreham since July2024.[2]
Rutland was born in February 1992.[3] He was educated atThe Skinners' School, an all-boysgrammar school inTunbridge Wells. He readphilosophy, politics, and economics (PPE) atJesus College, Oxford between 2010 and 2013, graduating with anupper second class honours degree.[4][5] He wasJunior Common Room president at Jesus College and subsequently president ofOxford University Student Union from 2013 to 2014.[6][7]
After university, Rutland worked onTessa Jowell's unsuccessful 2015 campaign to be chosen as Labour's candidate for Mayor of London and then as a parliamentary researcher forAndrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, a Labour member of the House of Lords.[8] From 2015 to 2016, he was an analyst atDeloitte.[9] He then worked as an executive support officer atTower Hamlets London Borough Council from 2016 to 2017, and as a public affairs officer atImperial College London from 2017 to 2019.[9][10] He has worked as apress officer for theFinancial Conduct Authority, and theProspect trade union.[11] He left Prospect in July 2024, having been elected an MP.[12]
Rutland was a councillor forStreatham Common and Vale ward onLambeth London Borough Council from 2022 to 2024.[13]
In the2024 general election Rutland was elected asMember of Parliament (MP) forEast Worthing and Shoreham, with 22,120 votes (45.1%) and amajority of 9,519 over the second place Conservative candidate.[14] On 28 October 2024, he made hismaiden speech in the House of Commons during a debate on Remembrance and Veterans.[15]
Rutland was elected as a member of theCulture, Media and Sport Select Committee on 21 October 2024.[16]
Rutland is gay,[17] and this led to his interest in politics as a teenager.[15]
I think everyone in this place had that moment when they switched on to politics and realised the difference that it could make. For me, it was realising as a teenager that I was gay
