Liam Conlon is the Labour Party MP for Beckenham and Penge, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Conlon won 25,738 votes, representing 49.3% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Hannah Gray, received 12,848 votes (24.6%), while the Reform UK candidate, Edward Apostolides, secured 5,355 votes (10.3%). Conlon was duly elected with a majority of 12,905.

The Beckenham and Penge constituency is located in the London borough of Bromley, South East London. It is a new constituency created for the 2024 general election, formed primarily from parts of the former Beckenham and Lewisham West and Penge constituencies.

The predecessor Beckenham seat was held by the Conservatives since its creation in 1950. Based on 2019 results applied to the updated boundaries, the Beckenham and Penge seat was notionally Labour before the 2024 election.

Bob Stewart of the Conservative Party represented the former Beckenham seat from 2010 to 2024.

Political Career

Conlon currently serves as an assistant government whip. He was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Conlon served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Transport from July 2024 to July 2026. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs.

In May 2026, Conlon was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed a joint statement insisting it was “no time for a leadership contest.” The letter was an intervention in the political crisis engulfing Keir Starmer’s premiership, after Labour suffered heavy losses in the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru. It was organised as a counterweight to a mounting rebellion that had seen high-profile figures, including some ministers, call for Starmer’s resignation.

The statement read: “Last week we had a devastatingly tough set of election results. It shows we have a hard job ahead to win back trust from the electorate.

“That job needs to start today – with all of us working together to deliver the change the country needs.

“We must focus on that. This is no time for a leadership contest.”

In March 2025, Conlon introduced the Baby Institutions Payment Scheme (Report) Bill in the House of Commons under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill, also known as Philomena’s Law, proposed that survivors of Ireland’s mother and baby homes could continue to receive benefits in the UK.

Introducing the bill, Conlon highlighted that approximately 13,000 survivors living in Britain currently risked losing means-tested social security or social care support if they accepted redress from the Irish government.

He told the House: “Just as we did for the Windrush families, we must now change the law to ensure that compensation payments for victims and survivors are ringfenced. This bill, Philomena’s law, named after the inspirational Philomena Lee, will achieve that.”

In a joint statement in March 2026, the government committed to rules changes to ensure survivors could continue to receive benefits in the UK. “We acknowledge the suffering of those who spent time in mother and baby homes during the 20th century”, the governments said.

“In recognition of the lifelong impact of this, today the UK agrees to disregard payments under Ireland’s Mother and Baby Redress Scheme, ensuring that survivors in both countries are treated the same and can receive the compensation to which they are rightly entitled.”

Conlon delivered his maiden speech on 24 October 2024 during a debate on Black History Month.

In it, he said: “When I was 13, the day after we broke up for the summer holidays in year 8, I had an accident in which I shattered my right hip. That led to irreversible damage to my knee and spine. From that point onwards, I was unable to walk for four years. I was taken to the Royal London hospital and later to the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital.

“I became one of the youngest people in Britain to have a hip replacement.

“Throughout those years, I spent nearly as much time on NHS children’s wards as I did in the school classroom – so much so that I had to drop most of my GCSEs to focus on my core subjects.

“My experiences on leaving hospital also shaped my understanding of the world around me. I realised at first hand, at a young age, the million different challenges that disabled people face every day, and how invisible they are to anyone else.”

He added: “I hope that when my successor comes to make their maiden speech, Beckenham and Penge will be an even better place to live; that our NHS and public services will be available to everyone, whenever they need them; and that we will be living in a society that is fairer and more inclusive of disabled people.”

Conlon has served as chair of the Labour Party Irish Society – first taking up this post in 2019.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Conlon was one of 175 Labour MPs who nominated Bridget Phillipson for the party’s deputy leadership in September 2025. The election followed the resignation of Angela Rayner, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and deputy party leader after an investigation into her tax affairs. It marked the first time since 2007 that Labour had held a deputy leadership contest while in government.

Phillipson, the serving education secretary, was widely viewed as the candidate favoured by Downing Street and the party leadership. She secured 175 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 80 required to reach the final ballot. She was ultimately defeated by Lucy Powell.

Factional identity and party tradition

SERA: Conlon has been listed as a member of the Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA) – a socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. Founded in 1973, SERA is the party’s official environmental campaign group. The organisation campaigns on a wide range of issues, including renewable energy, biodiversity, air quality and the transition to a green economy. SERA describes its member MPs as “champions for the environment”.

Brexit and Europe

Labour Movement for Europe: Conlon was endorsed by the Labour Movement for Europe (LME) in the 2024 general election. Founded in 1981, LME is a pro-European socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. It campaigns for a close relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The organisation refers to itself as the “home of the pro-Europeans in the Labour and trade union movement”.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Conlon voted in favour of the government’s flagship welfare bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

Assisted dying

Conlon voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

In a statement setting out his position, issued shortly after the bill’s second reading, Conlon said: “Whilst I support the principles of choice and control, I could not support a bill that does not provide enough safeguards for the most vulnerable, especially disabled people.

“Any change in the law, especially one as significant as this, is not an academic discussion of the words on the page of a bill. We must also be confident in how it will be applied, and in the people and systems who will implement it.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Conlon voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Before Politics

Conlon previously worked in strategy consulting.

Personal Life

Conlon is the son of Sue Gray, the former senior civil servant who served as Downing Street chief of staff under Keir Starmer from July to October 2024. Gray was chief of staff under Starmer as leader of the opposition from September 2023 to July 2024.

After leaving her post as chief of staff in No 10, Gray was elevated to the peerage as Baroness Gray of Tottenham.

Conlon’s father is Bill Conlon, a former country music singer from Northern Ireland.

He experienced a serious hip fracture aged 13, which required a hip replacement at age 17.

Trivia

Conlon is the son of Baroness (Sue) Gray.