Chris Ward is the Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Ward won 17,893 votes, representing 44.0% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Khobi Vallis, received 8,230 votes (20.2%), while the Green Party candidate, Elaine Hills, secured 7,997 votes (19.7%). Ward was duly elected with a majority of 9,663.

The Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven constituency is located in East Sussex in South East England. The seat has been held by Labour since 2017.

Ward’s immediate predecessor as the MP for the seat was Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who was suspended from the Labour Party shortly before the 2024 general election.

Political Career

Ward served as parliamentary secretary in the Cabinet Office from September 2025 to July 2026. He left government as part of the July 2026 reshuffle conducted by Andy Burnham upon his appointment as prime minister.

Ward served as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the prime minister in 10 Downing Street (2024-2025).

Ward delivered his maiden speech on 9 October 2024 during a debate on the Renters’ Rights Bill.

In it, he said: “Behind the picture postcard view – the downs, the pier, the lido – one in four children in my constituency grow up in relative poverty.

“Whitehawk, a stone’s throw from the bustle of Kemptown, is in the 10% of most deprived wards in the whole country, and Moulsecoomb – within sight of the riches of the Amex and the excellence of Sussex and Brighton universities – is the second most deprived ward in Sussex.

“That inequality matters: it thwarts potential and holds back life chances. As the excellent local campaign group Class Divide emphasises, children from the poorest parts of my constituency are twice as likely to be excluded from school, three times more likely to be placed outside mainstream schooling, and half as likely to get good GCSE grades.”

He added: “The prime minister often says that for him, politics is not about left or right; it is about who you have in your mind’s eye when you make a decision. I hope that for the time I have the great honour of representing the constituency and community that I love, I will always have in my mind’s eye those who are at the sharp end of that inequality.”

Before entering parliament, Ward held several roles working alongside Keir Starmer. He joined his staff as a parliamentary researcher, speechwriter and political advisor in 2015. Upon Starmer’s election as Labour leader in 2020, Ward was appointed as his deputy chief of staff. He left this role in 2021.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Ward 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.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Ward 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

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

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Ward 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

Christopher David Ward was born in 1982 in Brighton.

Ward studied history and politics at the University of Warwick, graduating in 2003. He obtained a master’s degree from the University of Oxford in 2006.

Ward’s career before entering frontline politics centred on public affairs and advisory roles. He joined Keir Starmer’s office in 2015 and served as a political advisor to him during his tenure as shadow Brexit secretary.

Ward was deputy campaign manager on Starmer’s 2020 leadership campaign and went on to work as deputy chief of staff in his office as leader of the opposition.

Ward was director of Hanbury Strategy from 2022 to 2024.

Personal Life

Ward was born and raised in Brighton, and his parents grew up in Peacehaven.

Trivia

Ward is a Brighton & Hove Albion season ticket holder.