James Ignatius O'Rourke McMahon (born 7 July 1980) is a British politician serving as

Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is a position with the UK Opposition's Shadow Cabinet that deals with issues surrounding the environment and food and rural affairs; if the opposition party is elected to govern ...

since 2021. He has been 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 o ...

(MP) for Oldham West and Royton since

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

under the Labour and Co-operative banner. McMahon was a

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

from 2003 to 2017 and served as

Leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets v ...

of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council from 2011 to 2016. He also sits on the National Executive Committee on behalf of the shadow frontbench. McMahon became Chair of the

Co-operative Party The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, supporting co-operative values and principles. Established in 1917, the Co-operative Party was founded by co-operative societies to campaign politically for the fair ...

in October 2020. He was

Shadow Secretary of State for Transport The Shadow Secretary of State for Transport is a political post in the United Kingdom. It has been consistently held by a member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet since May 1979. The Shadow Secretary helps hold the Transport Secretary ...

from 2020 to 2021.

Early life and education

McMahon was born in Miles Platting,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, to William McMahon, a lorry driver and Alicia O'Rourke (Breffni). The family moved from

Cheetham Hill Cheetham is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, which in 2011 had a population of 22,562. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, north of Manchester city centre, close to the boundary with Salford, bounded by Broug ...

when he was a child to Middleton, where he attended

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. He left school at the age of sixteen.

Professional career

McMahon started work in 1997 as an apprentice technician at Manchester University, rising to become a senior technician before leaving in 2004. He then joined local government service as a regeneration officer and latterly as a town centre manager.Official website
JimMcMahon.co.uk; retrieved 15 June 2014.

Political career

Local government

McMahon was first elected as a Member of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council for Failsworth East in a by-election on 20 November 2003. He held various posts on Oldham Council before becoming the council's Labour group leader in 2008 after the Liberal Democrats won control of the authority. At the 2011 local elections, Labour re-gained control of the council and McMahon became its leader. As council leader McMahon sat as one of the 11 members of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority with responsibility for transport. McMahon was the inaugural chairman of the Co-operative Council Innovation Network and served as the Labour leader of the

Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local authorities. Its core membership is made up of 339 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the Welsh Local Government Association. The LGA is p ...

. McMahon was named the 6th most influential person in local government by ''The Local Government Chronicle'' ahead of senior

government ministers A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...

. In August 2014, McMahon was elected to represent Labour councillors on the party's National Executive Committee (NEC). In the 2015 Labour leadership election, McMahon was reported to have supported Liz Kendall's leadership bid. Kendall finished in last place out of the four candidates (

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 socialis ...

won, followed next by

Andy Burnham Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, Culture Secretary from 200 ...

and Yvette Cooper), receiving less than 5% of the vote. In 2016, McMahon stood down as council leader and was replaced by his Deputy, Jean Stretton. He resigned his council seat in 2017, triggering a by-election on 16 February 2017. In 2022 a report was published into child safeguarding practices in Oldham during the 2011-14 period. McMahon is the person described by the Report as "Leader A". The Report found that McMahon was determined to address head-on allegations about Asian men sexually exploiting White girls.

Parliament

McMahon won the selection to be Labour Party candidate at the 2015 Oldham West and Royton by-election following the death of incumbent

Michael Meacher Michael Hugh Meacher (4 November 1939 – 21 October 2015) was a British politician who served as a government minister under Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Tony Blair. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for ...

. At the by-election held on 3 December 2015, McMahon was elected

for Oldham West and Royton, with 62% of the vote – an increase of seven percentage points since the 2015 general election. At the by-election McMahon represented just the Labour Party rather than his later Labour and Co-operative Party affiliation. He served as

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the ...

to the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party until being appointed to serve as Shadow Minister for Local Government and Devolution. He supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace

in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. After Keir Starmer's election as Leader of the Labour Party, McMahon was appointed

. On 29 November 2021 he was reshuffled to the role of

shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is a position with the UK Opposition's Shadow Cabinet that deals with issues surrounding the environment and food and rural affairs; if the opposition party is elected to govern ...

Votes at 16

On being selected to present a Private Members Bill, McMahon moved the Representation of the People (Young People's Enfranchisement and Education) Bill 2017–19, which sought to extend the franchise across the United Kingdom to eligible voters aged 16 and 17. The Bill included measures to introduce citizenship and the constitution education in schools. The Bill was supported by MPs from all political parties represented in the House of Commons, with the exception of the DUP, with its supporters including then Labour Party Leader

, then Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson,

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

MP Peter Bottomley, then Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Jo Swinson, and

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

Caroline Lucas Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who has twice led the Green Party of England and Wales and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion since the 2010 general election. She was re-elect ...

. The Bill received its Second Reading in November 2017, but did not progress any further. It led to the establishment of the cross party All Party Parliamentary Group on Votes at 16.

Personal life

McMahon lives with Charlene Duerden in Failsworth. They have two children.

Honours and distinctions

In February 2014, McMahon was named "Council Leader of the Year" during the Councillor Achievement Awards hosted by the

Local Government Information Unit The Local Government information Unit (LGiU) is a local government membership body, thinktank and registered charity. Established in 1983 as a membership organisation for UK local authorities, the LGiU states that its mission is to strengthen local ...

. He was credited with leading improvements in Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council having redesignated it as a Co-operative Council. Also in 2014, University Centre Oldham conferred upon him Honorary Fellowship, as well as being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). McMahon was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours for "services to the community in Oldham", and was invested by

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

, on 18 December 2015. In November 2017, he was named as the Youth Voice Champion by the British Youth Council following his work on the Votes at 16 campaign.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McMahon, Jim 1980 births Living people Councillors in Greater Manchester English people of Irish descent Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies Members of the Fabian Society Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Miles Platting UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Leaders of local authorities of England Members of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority