Former Stonewall campaigner Wes Streeting elected as MP
Stonewall’s former Head of Education Wes Streeting has been elected as a Labour MP for Ilford North.
Mr Streeting, who is a former President of the National Union of Students, had served as the Head of Education at then-LGB rights charity Stonewall, where he worked to tackle homophobia in schools.
The candidate made an unexpected gain for Labour, unseating former Tory MP Lee Scott.
The rights campaigner received 21,263 votes, affording him a tiny majority above Mr Scott on 20,874.
He is not the first Stonewall campaigner to head to Parliament – co-founder Michael Cashman was elevated to the House of Lords last year.
Mr Streeting is Deputy Leader of the London Borough of Redbridge council, where he serves as Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing
It is a rare piece of good news for Labour, who are projected to make losses.
He told the Ilford Recorder: “Given the initial results for Labour nationally and in London I arrived at the count fearing the worst and I’m just ecstatic
“I’m just over the moon. Every bit of work we’ve put into this election will be redoubled as Ilford North’s next MP.
“It hasn’t actually sunk in that I’ve won and what that’s going to be like.”
The party’s shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, was unseated by a 20-year-old student.
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