Rosena Chantelle Allin-Khan (born 10 May 1978) is a British doctor and politician serving as Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health since 2020. A member of the Labour Party, she has been

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

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre- Saxon times ...

since the 2016 Tooting by-election. She stood as a candidate at the 2020 Labour Party deputy leadership election, finishing in second-place after three rounds of voting. She was previously Shadow Minister for Sport between October 2016 and January 2020.

Early life and education

Rosena Chantelle Allin-Khan was born in

. Her parents were both musicians: her

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

mother had been a singer in the Polish girl group

Filipinki Filipinki were the first Polish all-girl vocal group and also Poland's leading female band of the 1960s. Career Filipinki were founded in October 1959 at an economic college in Szczecin and became popular in Poland through exposure at music fes ...

, and met her father, originally from

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, while the band was on tour in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. After having two children together, the couple separated. Rosena's mother worked at three jobs to support Rosena and her brother. Allin-Khan was educated at Trinity St Mary's Primary School,

Balham Balham () is an area in south London, England, mostly within the London Borough of Wandsworth with small parts within the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. The area has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as B ...

, followed by The Grey Coat Hospital. But her disappointing A-level grades, two Es and a U, dashed her hopes of being accepted to study medicine. Instead, she studied medical biochemistry at

Brunel University Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June 1 ...

, funding her education through a series of part-time jobs and establishing a strong record. She was accepted to study medicine at

Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge Lucy Cavendish College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college is named in honour of Lucy Cavendish (1841–1925), who campaigned for the reform of women's education. Hist ...

, where she was assisted by scholarships.

Medical career

After qualifying as a doctor, Allin-Khan worked at the Royal London and

Homerton Hospital Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust based in London, England, which runs Homerton University Hospital. History The trust was established as Homerton Hospital NHS Trust on 24 December 1994, and became operation ...

s. She also completed a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in public health. Following this, she worked as a humanitarian aid doctor in Gaza and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. Prior to her election to 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. ...

, she worked as a

junior doctor In the United Kingdom, junior doctors are qualified medical practitioners working whilst engaged in postgraduate training. The period of being a junior doctor starts when they qualify as a medical practitioner following graduation with a Bachelor o ...

in the

accident and emergency An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the Acute (medicine), ...

department at

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

. In addition to her parliamentary and ministerial work, Allin-Khan continues to work occasional shifts at St George's Hospital during parliamentary recesses.

Political career

Allin-Khan's work in public health also led her to become active in local politics. She was elected as a councillor on

Wandsworth Council Wandsworth London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Wandsworth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Wandsworth is divided into 20 wards, e ...

for Bedford Ward in

, serving from 2014 to 2018. She served as deputy leader of the council's Labour group. Allin-Khan was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the Tooting constituency, after the seat became vacant in May 2016; the sitting MP,

Sadiq Khan Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...

, had resigned after he had won that year's London mayoral election. Allin-Khan's by-election campaign emphasised her local,

working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

roots and Polish-Pakistani ancestry. When the election results were announced, Allin-Khan read a tribute to Jo Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen who was murdered on the day of the by-election. She campaigned to remain in the EU during the

2016 Brexit referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

, and later campaigned with the same position for a second referendum on the issue. In October 2016, Allin-Khan was appointed Shadow Minister for Sport. While in this position, she pledged to introduce

safe standing Safe standing is a measure of design in stadia to ensure that spectators are able to stand safely during events. It is important in the context of association football in the United Kingdom, where a series of fatal incidents led to legislation r ...

at football matches in the UK from the 2020/21 season, if Labour won the next election. She further campaigned to have England's semi-final match against Croatia during the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

to be shown on big screens in public. She said that the

St George's Flag The flag of England is the national flag of England, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is derived from Saint George's Cross (heraldic blazon: ''Argent, a cross gules''). The association of the red cross as an emblem of England ...

had become associated with the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

, and was pleased that the success of England in the World Cup had helped reclaim the flag for the wider population. Allin-Khan retained her seat in the 2017 general election and the 2019 general elections. She received a higher number of votes in the first of these elections, strengthening her position, but falling back slightly in the 2019 election. Allin-Khan stood as a candidate in the 2020 Labour Party deputy leadership election. During the campaign, she said that she would be a unifying candidate, and highlighted her working-class background, and experience as a doctor. She ultimately received 77,351 (16.8%) of first preference votes, and 113,858 (26.1%) in the final round, coming second to

Angela Rayner Angela Rayner (' Bowen; born 28 March 1980) is a British politician serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work since 2021. She has been Shad ...

. She was appointed as Shadow Minister for Mental Health in

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 ...

's first shadow cabinet, shadowing

Nadine Dorries Nadine Vanessa Dorries (''née'' Bargery, 21 May 1957) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2021 to 2022 under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A member of the Conservative Party, she ...

. Since the start of the

coronavirus pandemic in the UK The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confi ...

, Allin-Khan has been working 12-hour shifts at

in Tooting, in addition to her job as an MP and a shadow minister. She called for more mental health support to NHS staff during the pandemic, noting that there was a "rise in suicides, self-harm and suicidal ideation among frontline NHS and care staff" due to "a lack of PPE, an increased workload ... and witnessing more patients die". She also criticised the UK Government for being too slow in acting, saying that it should have sooner introduced measures such as the lockdown and widespread testing. In October 2020, the

Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is an officer of the British House of Commons. The work of the officer is overseen by the Commons Select Committee on Standards. The current commissioner is Kathryn Stone. Duties The commissioner is i ...

rebuked Allin-Khan for breaching the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament. As this was Allin-Khan's third breach of the rules, the matter was referred to the Parliamentary Committee on Standards. In the

May 2021 British shadow cabinet reshuffle Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom, carried out a reshuffle of Shadow Cabinet of Keir Starmer, his shadow cabinet on 9 May 2021. This followed disappointing results for the L ...

, she was made a Shadow Secretary of State, which was changed to Shadow Cabinet Minister in November 2021.

Personal life

Allin-Khan is married and lives in Tooting with her husband, who is Welsh. She is a Muslim. The couple have two daughters. She is an

amateur boxer Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

, training at Balham Boxing Club. Allin-Khan also serves as the team doctor.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allin Khan, Rosena Living people 21st-century British medical doctors Alumni of Brunel University London Alumni of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge British politicians of Pakistani descent Councillors in the London Borough of Wandsworth British emergency physicians English Muslims English people of Pakistani descent English people of Polish descent Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Tooting UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present 21st-century British women politicians Politicians from London 1978 births National Health Service people 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Women councillors in England