Lloyd Cameron Russell-Moyle (born 14 September 1986) is a British

Labour and Co-operative Party Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidat ...

politician who was elected 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 ...

(MP) for

Brighton Kemptown Brighton Kemptown, often referred to as Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven by local political parties, is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour Co-op MP. The constit ...

in the 2017 general election. He retained his seat in the 2019 general election. He is a member of the

Socialist Campaign Group The Socialist Campaign Group, officially the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs and also known as the Campaign Group, is a left-wing, democratic socialist grouping of the Labour Party's Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the ...

parliamentary

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

Early life and education

Russell-Moyle was born on 14 September 1986 in

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 ...

, England. He was educated at Wallands Primary School,

Priory School, Lewes Priory School is a British co-educational secondary school for 11- to 16-year-olds located on Mountfield Road in the East Sussex town of Lewes. History Priory School was originally formed in 1969 when the Lewes County Grammar School for Girls ...

, and

Sussex Downs College East Sussex College or East Sussex College Group is the largest higher education college in East Sussex, providing education and training from foundation to degree level. The college educates almost half of the county's young people and ove ...

. He studied at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be creat ...

and the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

. Russell-Moyle worked at the

National Youth Agency The National Youth Agency (NYA) is an educational charity in England and Wales that works in partnership with a wide range of public, private and voluntary sector organizations to support and improve services for young people. The NYA's particul ...

, chairing

The Woodcraft Folk Woodcraft Folk is a UK-based educational movement for children and young people. Founded in 1925 and grown by volunteers, it has been a registered charity since 1965 Registered Charity since 2013. and a registered company limited by guarantee s ...

and as vice-president of the

European Youth Forum The European Youth Forum (from french: Youth Forum Jeunesse, YFJ) is an international non-profit association and serves as a platform and advocacy group of the national youth councils and international non-governmental youth organisations in Euro ...

based in Brussels.

Political career

Russell-Moyle stood in the 2015 general election for the

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

constituency, coming fourth. He was elected and served as a councillor on

Brighton and Hove City Council Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services ...

in August 2016, before standing for and being elected as MP for

in 2017. In May 2018 Russell-Moyle as the Chair of the

All-Party Parliamentary Group An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-party ...

on Youth Affairs launched an inquiry into "the Role and Sufficiency of Youth Work". In the recommendations published in October 2018 Russell-Moyle highlighted the relevance and importance of the inquiry stating, "Over the years youth work has borne the brunt of significant spending cuts. Recent events and reports suggest the loss of youth work has had a negative impact on young people and communities". On 10 December 2018, Russell-Moyle was suspended from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

for the remainder of the day's sitting after he seized the ceremonial mace in protest at the government's eleventh-hour deferral of the vote on the EU Withdrawal Agreement, which had been scheduled for the following day. On 5 March 2019, Russell-Moyle joined thirteen other Labour MPs on Westminster Bridge, next to the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

, in a protest against

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

under the banner 'Love Socialism Hate Brexit'. Russell-Moyle was one of a number of MPs to light red flares on the bridge. The use of flares so close to Westminster drew the attention of uniformed police, who arrived by boat to inquire what was taking place. During

Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom, currently held as a single session every W ...

, on 20 March 2019, Russell-Moyle urged

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

to "condemn"

Andrea Leadsom Dame Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (; ' Salmon; born 13 May 1963) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Northamptonshire since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Secretary of State for Environ ...

for the Cabinet Minister's comments on LGBT education. Leadsom had made comments on radio that parents should decide when their children are "exposed" to LGBT education. Leadsom's comments drew anger from many who felt, in Russell-Moyle's words, that "This is Conservative Party

dog-whistle politics In politics, a dog whistle is the use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition. The concept is named after ultrasonic dog whistles, which are audible to dogs bu ...

". Russell-Moyle also criticised the Prime Minister, stating that she had "campaigned to keep

Section 28 Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received R ...

" which prevented the "promotion of homosexuality", which Russell-Moyle said had "led to millions of young people like myself growing in fear of being LGBT". Russell-Moyle was involved in a physical altercation on 21 March 2019 whilst out showing support for demonstrators leafleting for 'The People's March', a demonstration in support of the

People's Vote People's Vote was a United Kingdom campaign group that unsuccessfully campaigned for a second referendum following the UK's Brexit vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. The group was launched in April 2018 at which four Members of Pa ...

campaign. Russell-Moyle described how an individual first began arguing with an ITV News crew suggesting that they were part of a "mainstream media conspiracy to stop Brexit". Russell-Moyle then approached the scene and said that he was an MP and that "the majority of isconstituents had voted Remain". He said that this information exacerbated the situation further with the individual describing MPs as "traitors" and lunging at him. The incident took place less than 24 hours after Prime Minister Theresa May gave a speech on Brexit in which she blamed MPs for deliberately delaying her attempt to ensure the UK left the EU by 29 March. In June 2019, Russell-Moyle was criticised by the Board of Deputies for hosting a Stop the War coalition meeting in Parliament to which a representative of the Yemeni

Houthi The Houthi movement (; ar, ٱلْحُوثِيُّون ''al-Ḥūthīyūn'' ), officially called Ansar Allah (' ''Partisans of God'' or ''Supporters of God'') and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist political and armed movement that ...

group, Ahmed Alshami, had been invited.Daniel Sugarman. "Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle invites representative of antisemitic group to Parliament" '' Jewish Chronicle'' 24 June 2019, https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/labour-mp-lloyd-russell-moyle-invites-representative-of-antisemitic-group-to-parliament-1.485737 The Board's Vice President stated that "hosting an organisation in the Houses of Parliament whose official slogan includes the phrase ‘death to Israel, curse the Jews’ is utterly unacceptable. Lloyd Russell-Moyle should immediately disavow his support for this event". Russell-Moyle described Alshami as "part of the delegation to the UN process...I support efforts to bring peace to Yemen, encouraging dialogue with people on all sides, however much I disagree with Mr Alshami icviews". Russell-Moyle later made his offer to host the meeting conditional on the non-participation of Alshami. On 12 December 2019, Russell-Moyle was re-elected as a Labour MP to his Brighton Kemptown constituency. His speech on the night, which included an undertaking to "fight he Toriesin ...the Parliament...the courts...the workplaces...the streets", aroused comment in the press and on social media. In December 2019, Russell-Moyle sparked controversy when he said he was not a "cunt" in refusing to call for

Corbyn Corbyn is a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Frederick Corbyn (1791–1853), British surgeon in India * Jeremy Corbyn (born 1949), British politician and leader of the Labour Party 2015–2020 * Piers Corbyn ...

to resign, during an exchange on instant messenger with a former party member, which was leaked to ''The Sun''. Russell-Moyle was appointed Shadow Foreign Minister in January 2020, holding the brief for the Americas and Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacific and the Overseas Territories. Upon the election of

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras ...

as party leader, he was appointed as Shadow Minister for Natural Environment and Air Quality. In April 2020, Russell-Moyle was reported to have shared an unredacted version of a Labour Party dossier into the handling of antisemitism, which contained the names and details of whistle-blowers. In June 2020, he issued an apology after writing an article for ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...

'' in which he accused

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and Philanthropy, philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to ...

of using her experience of domestic abuse and sexual assault to justify discrimination against transgender people. On 16 July 2020, Russell-Moyle resigned from his frontbench role, citing a "campaign by the right-wing media" which he believes led to him and his staff receiving targeted abuse.

Select Committees and All Party Parliamentary Groups

Russell-Moyle is Chair of the

on Youth Affairs. Russell-Moyle is also listed as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, Kurdish la ...

in Turkey and Syria, which replaced his Chairmanship of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

in Iran; All-Party Parliamentary Group for

Rojava The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing Regions of North and East Syria, sub-regions in the areas of Afrin Region ...

(Democratic Federation of Northern Syria) and Vice Chairmanship of Kurds in Turkey in the 2017–2019 Parliament. Russell-Moyle is listed as Treasurer of All-Party Parliamentary Groups on

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

and on Universities and he is listed as Vice Chair or Officer of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on The Bahá'í Faith; Council Housing; Deaths Abroad, Consular Services and Assistance; Housing Market and Housing Delivery; Sixth Form Education and Vaccinations for All. During the 2017–2019 Parliament Russell-Moyle was a member of following

Parliamentary committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

: *

International Development Committee The International Development Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the Committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the international aid functions of ...

Committees on Arms Export Controls The Committees on Arms Export Controls (formerly the Quadripartite Committee) is the name for the concurrent meeting of four House of Commons select committees, comprising the International Trade Select Committee, the Defence Select Committee, t ...

, formerly Quadripartite Committee * International Development Sub-Committee on the Work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact * Draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill (joint) * Voyeurism (Offences) (No. 2) Bill * Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) Bill * Courts and Tribunals (Judiciary and Functions of Staff) Bill ordsref name="Courts and Tribunals Bill"> * National Insurance Contributions (Termination Awards and Sporting Testimonials) Bill * Civil Liability Bill ordsref name="Civil Liability Bill"> * Courts and Tribunals (Online Procedure) Bill ordsref name="Courts and Tribunals (Online) Bill"> In the 2019 Parliament Russell-Moyle has been member of the following

: *

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, formerly the Public Administration Select Committee, is a select committee appointed by the British House of Commons to examine the reports of the Parliamentary and Health Se ...

International Trade Select Committee The International Trade Committee is one of the Parliamentary select committees of the United Kingdom, Select Committees of the British House of Commons, having been established in 2016. It oversees the operations of the Department for Internation ...

, formerly Quadripartite Committee Russell-Moyle is an honorary associate of the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...

. National Secular Society. Retrieved 27 July 2019

Personal life

In November 2018, during a House of Commons debate to mark the 30th

World AIDS Day World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease. The acquired imm ...

, Russell-Moyle revealed he had been diagnosed as

HIV positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...

a decade earlier, saying he wanted to tackle the stigma still associated with the condition and stating: "I have not only survived, I've prospered, and any partner I have is safe and protected", making reference later in his speech to having an undetectable

viral load Viral load, also known as viral burden, is a numerical expression of the quantity of virus in a given volume of fluid, including biological and environmental specimens. It is not to be confused with viral titre or viral titer, which depends on the ...

, as well as discussing

pre-exposure prophylaxis Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is the use of medications to prevent the spread of disease in people who have not yet been exposed to a disease-causing agent, usually a virus. The term typically refers to the use of antiviral drugs as a strate ...

and

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

policy. In disclosing his HIV status in a Parliamentary speech, he became the first MP to do so in the chamber of the House of Commons and only the second person (after Chris Smith) to live openly with HIV as an MP.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell-Moyle, Lloyd 1986 births Alumni of the University of Bradford Alumni of the University of Sussex Gay politicians LGBT politicians from England LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Living people People educated at Priory School, Lewes People educated at East Sussex College People from Brighton Councillors in East Sussex Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present People associated with the Woodcraft Folk People with HIV/AIDS English socialists Politicians from Brighton and Hove