Sarah Ann Jones (born 20 December 1972) is a British Labour Party politician. She 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 of ...

(MP) for

Croydon Central Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensive ...

since 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 ...

. She was appointed as Shadow Minister for Housing in May 2018, and made Shadow Minister of State for Police and the Fire Service in 2020.

Life and career

Jones was born in Croydon and is a lifelong resident. She was educated at the private

Old Palace School The Old Palace of John Whitgift School is a selective independent school for girls in Croydon, London. The Old Palace is protected as a Grade I listed building. It consists of a pre-school for the ages of 3-4, a preparatory department for the ag ...

in Croydon and at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

, where she read History. She was a member of

Trevelyan College , motto_English = Truth more readily than falsehood , scarf = , named_for = George Macaulay Trevelyan , namesake = George Macaulay Trevelyan , established = 1966 , principal = Adekunle Adeyeye , vice_principal = I ...

. Jones joined the Labour Party aged 19 in 1992 after watching

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 ...

Peter Lilley Peter Bruce Lilley, Baron Lilley, PC (born 23 August 1943) is a British politician and life peer who served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parl ...

, then the Secretary of State at the

Department of Social Security The Department of Social Security (DSS) was a governmental agency in the United Kingdom from 1988 to 2001. The old abbreviation is still often used informally. Advertisements for rented accommodation used to describe prospective tenants who wou ...

, make a speech to his party's annual conference where he attacked benefit claimants and women who allegedly become pregnant to gain

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

. Jones, who was pregnant at the time, joined the Labour Party as a direct reaction to the speech. Before becoming an MP, Jones served as a senior civil servant and was part of the team delivering the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. Jones worked with

Tessa Jowell Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell, (; 18 September 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a British Labour Party politician and life peer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dulwich and West Norwood, previously Dulwich, from 199 ...

, who was

Minister for the Olympics The Minister for the Olympics was a position within the United Kingdom Government created on 6 July 2005 as a result of the selection of London to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. It was merged into the position of Secretary of State for Culture, Ol ...

at the time. She remained close with Jowell, and in 2018 Jones led a debate in 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. ...

paying tribute to Jowell's fight against brain cancer and her campaign for improved cancer treatment. Jones continued to campaign in the wake of Jowell's death, prompting the government to launch the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM). Upon its launch, Jones was appointed to the Joint Strategy Board of the TJBCM. A former Head of Campaigns at the housing charity

Shelter Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger. Shelter may also refer to: Places * Port Shelter, Hong Kong * Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations * Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locatio ...

, Jones worked for Labour MP and Northern Ireland Secretary

Mo Mowlam Dr Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam (18 September 1949 – 19 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Minis ...

and later ran campaigns at the

NHS Confederation The NHS Confederation, formerly the National Association of Health Authorities and Trusts, is a membership body for organisations that commission and provide National Health Service services founded in 1990. The predecessor organisation was calle ...

Parliamentary career

Jones was selected to contest the marginal

constituency at the 2015 general election. Despite achieving a 5.9% swing to Labour, Jones narrowly lost by 165 votes to the incumbent Conservative MP

Gavin Barwell Gavin Laurence Barwell, Baron Barwell (born 23 January 1972) is a British politician and former Downing Street Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, Theresa May. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament for Croydon Centra ...

. At the

, she defeated Barwell with a majority of 5,652 votes. Jones's victory made further headlines due to Barwell publishing a book titled ''How to Win a Marginal Seat'' after his 2015 victory. Jones made her maiden speech in the House of Commons during a debate on the

Grenfell Tower fire On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escapin ...

. Jones criticised politicians' failure to listen to Grenfell victims before the disaster, and called on the Government to retrofit sprinklers in all council tower blocks. The speech received widespread coverage for being the first time Croydon rapper

Stormzy Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. (born 26 July 1993), known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through his ''Wicked Skengman'' series of f ...

was quoted in Parliament, with Jones warning MPs: " You're never too big for the boot." After highlighting the rise in knife crime in Croydon during the general election campaign, Jones has run a campaign calling for a stronger Government response to knife crime across the UK. She launched the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Knife Crime in September 2017, being elected as the group's Chair. At its launch over 30 MPs and Peers joined the group, which is supported by charities Redthread and

Barnardo's Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children. As of 2013, it raised and spent around £200 million each year running around 900 local services, aimed at helping these same group ...

. The APPG's stated aims are to 'look in detail at the root causes of knife crime – with particular focus on prevention and early intervention'. Jones was appointed 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 H ...

to John Healey, Labour's Shadow Housing Secretary in January 2018, and was subsequently promoted to Shadow Housing Minister in 2018, succeeding

Tony Lloyd Sir Anthony Joseph Lloyd (born 25 February 1950) is a British Labour Party politician who has discontinuously served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1983, currently as the MP for Rochdale since 2017. He was MP for Stretford from 1983 to 1 ...

. She was re-elected in the December 2019 election, again for Croydon. She backed

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 ...

in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.

Views

On rising rates of knife crime, Jones has said,

Personal life

Jones is married and has four children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Sarah 1972 births 21st-century English women politicians 21st-century English politicians Alumni of Trevelyan College, Durham Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Living people People educated at the Old Palace School People from Croydon UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present