Conor Patrick McGinn (born 31 July 1984) is a British politician serving as

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 o ...

(MP) for St Helens North since 2015. He was the Labour Party Deputy National Campaign Coordinator from June 2021 and

Shadow Minister without Portfolio The Shadow Minister without Portfolio is a member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet. The postholder shadows A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensi ...

from December 2021 until September 2022. He was suspended by the party in December 2022 after a unspecified complaint was lodged against him.

Early life

McGinn was born in

Camlough Camlough ( ; ) is a village five kilometres west of Newry in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village is named after a lake, known as Cam Lough, in the parish, which is about 90 acres in extent. South of the village is Camlough Mountain (Sli ...

, near

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, and brought up in the nearby village of

Bessbrook Bessbrook is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies about three miles (5 km) northwest of Newry and near the Newry bypass on the main A1 Belfast-Dublin road and Belfast-Dublin railway line. Today the village of Bessbrook str ...

. The village was highly militarised during

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

. His mother was an

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clerical officer, and his father was a

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

councillor. McGinn went to St Paul's High School, Bessbrook. Before going to university, he worked for the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

in South Africa on a fellowship for two months. He studied at

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

, but did not initially complete his degree, remaining in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

working for a mental health charity for Irish immigrants, Immigrant Counselling and Psychotherapy, and later for the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas. He later completed his history, politics and Irish studies degree part-time at

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (formerly the City ...

Political career

McGinn was chair of the

Young Fabians The Young Fabians is the under age 31 section of the Fabian Society, a socialist society in the United Kingdom that is affiliated to the Labour Party. The Young Fabians operate as a membership-driven think tank that organises policy debates, r ...

from 2006 to 2007, and has been vice-chair of Young Labour. He stood to be a councillor on

Islington London Borough Council Islington London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Islington in Greater London, England. The council was created by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced two local authorities: Finsbury Metropolitan Borough Co ...

in 2006 and 2010 without success. He has been on the executive of the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. T ...

and until 2012 was chair of the

Labour Party Irish Society The Labour Party Irish Society is a socialist society affiliated to the British Labour Party. It is a collective body of Labour Party members of Irish birth or descent, and those interested in Ireland and Irish affairs. It promotes the inter ...

. In 2011 he represented the

socialist societies A socialist society is a membership organisation that is affiliated with the Labour Party in the UK. The best-known and oldest socialist society is the Fabian Society, founded in 1884, some years before the creation of the Labour Party itself ( ...

on the Labour Party

National Executive Committee National Executive Committee is the name of a leadership body in several organizations, mostly political parties: * National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, in South Africa * Australian Labor Party National Executive * Nationa ...

. He worked as a public affairs and government relations consultant, before becoming an advisor to shadow

Northern Ireland Secretary Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

Vernon Coaker Vernon Rodney Coaker, Baron Coaker (born 17 June 1953) is a British politician and life peer serving as Shadow Spokesperson for Home Affairs and Defence since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Gedling fro ...

in 2011, and continued to work for Coaker when he became shadow defence secretary. Post election, he was appointed to the Defence Select Committee and as an Opposition Whip. McGinn was briefly a communist in his youth, but is now regarded as being on the right of the Labour Party. He is listed as a Parliamentary supporter of both the

Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that promotes support for a strong bilateral relationship between Britain and Israel, and seeks to strengthen ties between the British Labour Party and the Isra ...

and Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East. McGinn supported Andy Burnham's bid for the leadership of the Labour Party in 2015. McGinn nominated

Owen Smith Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970) is a former Labour Party politician and subsequently a British lobbyist, who has been the UK government relations director for pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb since 2020. Smith was Member of Parliamen ...

in the 2016 leadership election. Following the October 2016 Shadow Cabinet reshuffle, and the replacement of Dame Rosie Winterton as Chief Whip, McGinn resigned as a whip. He served on the Foreign Affairs Committee and has also been a delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He has chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Ireland and the Irish in Britain, and is co-chair of the APPG on Horseracing. He has previously held this position for the APPGs on Coalfield Communities, and Darts. McGinn is Honorary Secretary to the APPG on Music, an executive committee member of the British-American Parliamentary Group, as well as a Member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. McGinn supported the campaign for Helen's Law, working with Marie McCourt to successfully introduce a Private Members Bill and successfully getting the Government to commit to introducing tougher penalties for murderers who refuse to reveal the location of their victims’ remains. He campaigned and moved the successful House of Commons amendment to change the law to extend equal marriage for LGBT people to Northern Ireland. This led to him being awarded the Pink News Politician of the Year in 2018. In 2016, he was involved in a

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spat, which became a media story, with Labour leader

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

, in which McGinn claimed that Corbyn "said that he intended to ring my father", a former

councillor. Corbyn's spokesman said the claim was "untrue". On 9 April 2020, McGinn was appointed as Shadow Minister for Security. In June 2021, he was appointed as Labour's deputy national campaign coordinator. In December 2021, he was appointed

shadowing

Oliver Dowden Oliver James Dowden (born 1 August 1978) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since October 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hertsmere since 2015. Dowden served in the Johnson gover ...

.https://members.parliament.uk/member/4458/career https://members.parliament.uk/Opposition/Cabinet In December 2022 he was suspended by the party pending an investigation of an unspecified complaint. McGinn denies wrongdoing.

Personal life

McGinn lives in Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows. He is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

. He married Kate Groucutt about 2009, and has a son and a daughter. McGinn holds both Irish and British citizenship.

References

External links

*
St Paul's Bessbrook Senior Prizegiving 2013 - Conor McGinn
(video) , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McGinn, Conor 1984 births Living people People from Bessbrook Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East People educated at St Paul's High School, Bessbrook Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of London Metropolitan University Irish expatriates in South Africa Members of the Fabian Society People from County Armagh UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present English Roman Catholics Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom