29 Facts About Christian Wakeford

Christian Wakeford was born on 9 November 1984 and is a British politician serving as Assistant Government Whip since 2024.

Christian Wakeford has been the Member of Parliament for Bury South since the 2019 general election.

Christian Wakeford was re-elected for Labour in the 2024 general election.

Concurrently, Christian Wakeford undertook an undergraduate degree in chemistry through the Open University from 2010 to 2014.

In June 2020, Christian Wakeford stated that he had not resigned his Lancashire County Council seat as a block on elections during the COVID-19 pandemic would leave residents without representation for a year.

Christian Wakeford attributed his change of mind over his resignation to a desire to ensure the two areas where he was a councillor were not without representation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between the general election in December 2019 and July 2020, there were reportedly only two full meetings of Lancashire County Council, of which Christian Wakeford had attended one.

In July 2020, Private Eye reported that after the general election, Christian Wakeford had applied to Pendle Borough Council for leave of absence "while he sorted himself out in Westminster".

Christian Wakeford's request was declined and in April 2020 Wakeford automatically lost his seat, as he had not attended a borough council meeting for six months.

Christian Wakeford had been receiving an annual allowance as a councillor of Lancashire County Council and Pendle Borough Council until 6 May 2021 and 24 April 2020 respectively.

In December 2019, Christian Wakeford was elected as the Conservative MP for Bury South, winning the seat by 402 votes from long-term Labour MP, Ivan Lewis, who had held the seat since Labour's landslide victory in 1997.

On 14 March 2020, Christian Wakeford was appointed as a member of the House of Commons Education Committee.

In July 2020, Christian Wakeford was elected as co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews, whose stated purpose is to promote understanding of the aspirations and challenges of the UK's Jewish community, with topics including religious freedom, faith-based education, welfare and social justice, in addition to celebrating the culture, contribution and achievements of the UK's Jewish community.

Christian Wakeford is one of 22 UK MPs who are members of the International Parliamentary Network for Education, an initiative of Results UK, a dual-registered company and charity.

On 19 January 2022, Christian Wakeford publicly confirmed that he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Johnson following the partygate scandal.

Later that day, it was announced that Christian Wakeford had joined the Labour Party.

Christian Wakeford was the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to Labour since Quentin Davies in 2007.

Christian Wakeford was the only Conservative MP to support the bill.

Christian Wakeford wrote to Johnson that Labour was "ready to provide an alternative government that this country can be proud of, and not embarrassed by".

Christian Wakeford wrote that Starmer had "shown that integrity in the way he has led his party".

In January 2021, Christian Wakeford allegedly sent WhatsApp messages in which he referred to Labour as a "bunch of cunts".

The left-wing campaign group Momentum stated that Christian Wakeford "should be nowhere near the Labour Party", and that a by-election should be immediately called in the constituency.

Christian Wakeford said in an interview that he had experienced this behaviour when he was previously threatened with the loss of funding for a local school if he did not vote with Government on a motion regarding free school meals.

On 26 May 2022, Christian Wakeford was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Bridget Phillipson, the shadow secretary of state for education.

Christian Wakeford was appointed an Opposition Whip on 1 November 2022.

On 8 November 2022, Christian Wakeford was confirmed as the Labour candidate for Bury South at the 2024 general election.

Christian Wakeford is a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel and was part of a delegation to the country in February 2023.

In May 2023, Christian Wakeford called for Roger Waters to be banned from performing in Manchester.

Christian Wakeford had an older brother, Mark Jones, who died at the age of 44 in a car accident in 2015.