Layla Michelle Moran (; born 12 September 1982) is a British Liberal Democrat politician serving as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

and

International Development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic or human development on an international scale. It is the basis for international classifications ...

since 2020, and serving as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Oxford West and Abingdon since

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. Moran attended private schools in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

in Jamaica and Roedean School near

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. She studied

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

and completed her PGCE at

Brunel University London Brunel University London is a Public university, public Research universities, research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian era, Victorian engineer and pioneer of the I ...

. She worked as a maths and physics teacher. Moran unsuccessfully campaigned as the Liberal Democrat candidate in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

at the 2010 general election and in the West Central constituency at the

2012 London Assembly election The London Assembly election of 2012 was an election of members to the London Assembly which took place on Thursday, 3 May 2012, the same day as the 2012 London mayoral election, and the 2012 United Kingdom local elections. Although Conservative ...

. She contested Oxford West and Abingdon at the 2015 general election, coming second. She was selected for the seat again at the

2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November ...

and was elected to the House of Commons, defeating Conservative MP

Nicola Blackwood Nicola Blackwood, Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (born 16 October 1979) is a British politician of the Conservative Party. Baroness Blackwood was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford West and Abingdon from 2010 to 2017. She has also been ...

, with 26,256 votes (43.7%) and a majority of 816. She served as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Department ...

under three leaders from 2017 to 2020, and was spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2019 to 2020. After Jo Swinson lost her seat at the 2019 general election, Moran stood to become

Leader of the Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrats are a political party in the United Kingdom. Party members elect the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the head and highest-ranking member of the party. Liberal Democrat members of Parliament also elect a deputy leader of ...

in the 2020 leadership election, which she lost to Acting Leader

Sir Ed Davey Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 t ...

. On 31 August 2020, Davey appointed Moran as the Liberal Democrats'

Shadow Foreign Secretary In UK politics, the Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs is a position within the opposition's shadow cabinet that deals mainly with issues surrounding the Foreign Office. If elected, the person serving as ...

and as

Spokesperson the following day. Moran came out as

pansexual , meaning "all" , definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender , classification = Sexual identity , parent = Bisexuality , synonyms = , associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heterofl ...

in 2020 and is believed to be the first UK parliamentarian to do so. She is the first MP of Palestinian descent.

Early life and career

Layla Michelle Moran was born in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London on 12 September 1982, the elder daughter of diplomat James Moran and Randa Moran, a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Palestinian from

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. Her great-grandfather was the Palestinian writer

Wasif Jawhariyyeh ;14 January 1897 – 1972) was a composer, oud player, poet and chronicler. He is known for his memoirs, ''The Diaries of Wasif Jawhariyyeh'', that spans over six decades from 1904 to 1968, covering Jerusalem's turbulent modern history, includin ...

, who published extensive memoirs. Moran describes herself as a British Palestinian. On her upbringing, Moran said "My Palestinian background has made me interested at a global level. Politics was always at the dinner table; it primed me to engage." Moran was raised as a cultural Christian and now identifies as a humanist. Because her father was a diplomat for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and its predecessors, Moran grew up in various countries, including Belgium, Greece, Ethiopia, Jamaica and Jordan. She attended private schools in

in Jamaica and Roedean School in

. From 2000 to 2003, she studied physics at

, and from 2005 to 2007 completed a PGCE at

. From 2007 to 2008, she studied for a master's degree in comparative education at UCL's Institute of Education. From 2003 to 2012, Moran was a maths and physics teacher at the

International School of Brussels The International School of Brussels (ISB) is an English-language international school with grades spanning from pre-school to high school. Its campus lies in the Brussels commune of Watermael-Boitsfort. History The International School of Brus ...

, and at two schools in London:

Queensmead School Queensmead School is a co-educational secondary school with academy status located on Queens Walk, South Ruislip, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England. In 2009, Queensmead established a federation with Northwood School. It offers a wide ...

and Southbank International School. Between 2009 and 2013 she worked as a part-time course tutor for Oxford Study Courses, a company that helps

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

teachers and students, and from 2013 she was full-time academic manager.

Political career

Moran was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for

at the 2010 general election and came in third place. She also stood as a candidate for the West Central constituency in the

, coming fourth. Moran contested Oxford West and Abingdon at the 2015 general election, coming second. She was selected for the seat again at the

and won the seat from

, a Conservative who was then a junior minister for health, with 26,256 votes (43.7%) and a majority of 816. Moran became the first UK Member of Parliament of Palestinian descent and the first female Liberal Democrat MP from an ethnic minority background. In June 2017, Moran was named Liberal Democrat spokesperson for education, science and young people in the House of Commons. That month she used her maiden speech to call for fairer funding for schools, and in July 2017 she spoke out against the closure of all the Sure Start children's centres in Oxfordshire earlier in the year. Also in July 2017, Moran was jeered at for accusing the Conservatives of underfunding a new scheme to provide 30 hours of free child care for the children of working parents. Later in 2017, she was appointed a member of the Public Accounts Committee, which is responsible for overseeing government expenditure. In May 2019, Moran announced that, being a relatively new MP, she would not be running in the

2019 Liberal Democrats leadership election The 2019 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held following the announcement of the resignation of Vince Cable as leader on 24 May 2019, after just under two years as leader of the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom. The two candidat ...

. She had been considered a frontrunner to replace Vince Cable as leader, following his announcement in September 2018 that he intended to step down from the post. At the 2019 general election she stood for re-election, increasing her majority to 8,943. In March 2020, Moran announced that she would be running in the 2020 leadership election. Moran finished in second place with 35.6% of the vote, losing to

Ed Davey Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 t ...

, the acting co-leader. Moran has also been a leading voice in the call for a full review of the

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

history curriculum. She argues that to tackle institutional racism in society students must be taught of Britain's colonial past and the injustices that took place within it. In 2020 over 250,000 people signed a petition calling for 'Britain's colonial history to be made a compulsory part of the curriculum' which prompted Moran and 30 other cross-party MP's to apply greater pressure on the government to make significant changes to the history curriculum. In 2021, Moran was one of three MPs who successfully took legal action against the Department of Health and Social Care over contracts awarded during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Political positions

Climate change

Moran supports

action on climate change Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels bur ...

, and was the only Oxfordshire MP to support the

Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill The Climate and Ecology Bill, formerly promoted under the name Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill, is a private member's bill before the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed at tackling the climate crisis and environmental disaster. Firs ...

European Union

Moran opposed Brexit and supported a

second referendum on EU membership A referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement, also referred to as a "second referendum", a "rerun", a "people's vote", or a "confirmatory public vote", was proposed by a number of politicians and pressure groups as a way to break the deadlock ...

. Despite her opposition to Brexit, after the 2019 general election, she said that a Liberal Democrat policy to cancel the departure without a second referendum was a mistake.

Foreign policy

Moran opposed the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

. She opposed cuts to foreign aid to

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

. She is also critical of

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Saudi may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...

. Moran believes that the United Kingdom should announce recognition of the

State of Palestine Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), Legal status of the State of Palestine, officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state (polity), state located in Western Asia. Officiall ...

. She called out the names of the children killed in the

2021 Israel–Palestine crisis A major outbreak of violence in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict commenced on 10 May 2021, though disturbances took place earlier, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. It was marked by protests and police riot ...

in Parliament. Moran supported an inquiry into the disappearances of

Mohammed Bin Nayef Muhammad bin Nayef Al Saud ( ar, محمد بن نايف آل سعود, translit=Muḥammad bin Nāyif Āl Su‘ūd; born 30 August 1959), colloquially known by his initials MBN or MbN, is a former Saudi Arabian politician and businessman who serv ...

and Prince Ahmed Bin Abdulaziz of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. She is also critical of the

arms-trade The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and serv ...

between Britain and Saudi Arabia, and is a critic of Russia. In February 2022, she used the cover of

Parliamentary privilege Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties. ...

to name the

Navalny 35 Navalny 35 (also known as the Navalny's List) are a group of Russian human rights abusers, kleptocrats, and corruptioners involved in poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The initial list contained 35 individu ...

, Russian oligarchs who, as allies of Vladimir Putin, should have sanctions imposed on them. Moran is a supporter of

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (; fa, نازنین زاغری ; born 26 December 1978) is an Iranian-British dual citizen who was detained in Iran from 3 April 2016 as part of a long running dispute between Britain and Iran. In early September 2016, ...

and called for her release from prison in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Personal life

In an interview with ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', Moran stated that she suffered from depression when she was a student and attributed it to a negative self-image resulting from the

social stigma of obesity Social stigma of obesity is broadly defined as bias or discriminatory behaviors targeted at overweight and obese individuals because of their weight. Such social stigmas can span one's entire life, as long as excess weight is present, starting ...

. She underwent stomach-stapling surgery to assist her in losing weight. In 2013, Moran and her then boyfriend Richard Davis were briefly questioned by police, after she slapped him during an argument in their hotel room at the

Liberal Democrat Federal Conference The Liberal Democrat Conference, also known inside the party as the ''Liberal Democrat Federal Conference'', is a twice-per-year political conference of the British Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party in the UK by the number of ...

. No charge was brought, but the relationship subsequently ended. On 2 January 2020, Moran revealed in an interview with ''

PinkNews ''PinkNews'' is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in 2005. It closely follows political progress on LGBT rights aro ...

'' that she is

; she is believed to be the first UK parliamentarian to come out as pansexual. Moran also disclosed that she was in a stable relationship with Rosy Cobb, formerly a Liberal Democrat press officer. Cobb was suspended by the party during the previous general election over an accusation that she had forged an email.

Electoral record

2019 UK general election

2017 UK general election

2015 UK general election

2012 London Assembly election

2010 UK general election

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moran, Layla 1982 births 21st-century English women politicians Alumni of Brunel University London Alumni of Imperial College London British humanists English people of Palestinian descent Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom LGBT politicians from England Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies Living people Pansexual women People educated at Roedean School, East Sussex People from Hammersmith UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present