Matthew Thomas Pennycook was born on 29 October 1982 and is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament for Greenwich and Woolwich since 2015.
18 Facts About Matthew Pennycook
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Matthew Pennycook was educated at Beverley Boys Secondary School, a comprehensive school in New Malden, London.
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Matthew Pennycook joined the Labour Party at the age of nineteen.
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Matthew Pennycook studied History and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, graduating with a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in 2005.
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Matthew Pennycook was awarded the CS MacTaggart Scholarship Prize for best overall degree performance in any subject.
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Matthew Pennycook subsequently won a scholarship to attend Balliol College, Oxford, studying for a Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations.
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Matthew Pennycook worked for a while in Parliament as an assistant to Labour MP Karen Buck.
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Matthew Pennycook was a Labour councillor for Greenwich West from 2010 to 2015, resigning in March 2015 just before the general election.
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Matthew Pennycook served as a trustee of Greenwich Housing Rights and was a school governor at James Wolfe Primary School in West Greenwich.
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Matthew Pennycook has written multiple articles for The Guardian about the need for a living wage in the UK and has served on the Living Wage Foundation's advisory board.
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Matthew Pennycook gave his maiden speech in the House of Commons during a debate on the economy on 4 June 2015.
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Matthew Pennycook supported Sadiq Khan in the campaign for selection of the candidate for the 2016 London Mayoral election.
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In July 2015, Matthew Pennycook became a member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee.
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Matthew Pennycook served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Shadow Minister of State for Housing, John Healey MP from 2015, resigning from the position in June 2016.
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Matthew Pennycook was one of 161 Labour MPs who backed Owen Smith in his unsuccessful Labour Party leadership campaign to replace Jeremy Corbyn in September 2016.
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Matthew Pennycook returned to the Opposition frontbench as Shadow Minister for Climate Change, following Keir Starmer's victory in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.
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Matthew Pennycook has expressed concerns about newly qualified teachers leaving the profession.
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Matthew Pennycook is married to civil servant Joanna Otterburn and they have two children.