Gordon McKee is the Labour MP for Glasgow South, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, McKee won 17,696 votes, representing 41.8% of the vote. The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Stewart McDonald, received 13,542 votes (32.0%), while the Scottish Green Party candidate, Niall Christie, secured 5,554 votes (13.1%). McKee was duly elected with a majority of 4,154.

The Glasgow South constituency was held by Labour from 2005 to 2015. McKee’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Glasgow South, Stewart McDonald of the SNP, represented the seat from 2015 to 2024.

Political Career

McKee currently serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Ministry of Defence. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs. The role is widely regarded as the first step on the ministerial ladder. Although they cannot speak for the government in debates, a PPS is bound by collective responsibility and becomes part of the so-called “payroll vote”, expected to support the official line in all divisions. McKee was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

McKee previously served as a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Work and Pensions (2024-2026).

In May 2026, McKee was among the group of Labour MPs who publicly called for the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to resign or set out a clear timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

In a statement, McKee said: “I’m deeply sad that we’re in this position and proud of what Keir Starmer achieved reforming the Labour Party.

“However, the message in Glasgow and across the country in last week’s elections was clear; the prime minister has lost the confidence of the public.”

He added: “Last week, I watched my friend Anas Sarwar face defeat in the Scottish Parliament election, meaning five more years of an SNP government.

“Our country faces enormous challenges and we need a Labour government that can deliver the scale of change that this requires.

“If we don’t change, the outcome could be Nigel Farage in Downing Street and all of the disastrous consequences that would have.”

McKee was appointed as a member of the United Kingdom delegation to the Nato parliamentary assembly (Nato PA) by the prime minister in November 2024. The delegation serves as a consultative link between the UK parliament and Nato. The assembly brings together legislators from all 32 member states to debate and provide oversight on security and defence policy. The party distribution of the delegation is intended to reflect the composition of the House of Commons.

Since 2025, McKee has established himself as a proficient communicator on social media. His trademark is using everyday household items to articulate sometimes complex economic and/or political issues.

Most famously, McKee demonstrated the UK’s debt to GDP ratio using stacks of custard creams and chocolate bourbons. This video, which lasted one minute and 42 seconds, accumulated over 3 million views on X (formerly Twitter).

Commenting on his virality, McKee told the Guardian: “The way people consume information has changed enormously in the last 10 years but the way politicians and MPs communicate with their constituents hasn’t as much.”

He added: “The task from progressives is to articulate a complex argument that is realistic and ambitious but also real and deliverable – and to do that in an interesting, engaging way.”

McKee has also sought to explain the UK’s “productivity crisis” using pancakes.

McKee, alongside fellow Labour MP from the 2024 intake Rosie Wrighting, has fronted social media content posted by the Labour Party’s official accounts.

In March 2026, McKee and Wrighting met with Morris Katz, a leading ally of the mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani.

McKee has sat as a member of the House of Commons international development committee (2024).

McKee delivered his maiden speech on 25 July 2024 during a debate on the code of conduct and modernisation committee.

In it, he said: “My dad, a welder, is here today – off during the Glasgow fair – along with my mum, who runs her own business, to watch me from the gallery. My career so far has been very different from that of my parents and grandparents.

“For a start, they have a proper job, whereas I am now doing this for a living, but it has been different for two related reasons.

“The first is the Labour party – both in the sense that it has helped to provide me with a new job, and in the protections that it has delivered for working people. Health and safety legislation, delivered by Labour and built by the trade union movement, have ended the kind of conditions that my grandparents worked in.

“The second reason my career has been different is technology. I suspect that today in Britain there are more bitcoin miners than coalminers, and that is ultimately a good thing. Coalmining was difficult, hard, laborious work.”

He added: “I am one of the lucky few to serve in this place, but I will never forget the people who put me here and the people who do not have a voice. Delivering for them will be how I judge my success.”

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: McKee 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

Labour Growth Group: McKee has been listed as a member of the Labour Growth Group (LGG) – a vocal faction of backbenchers committed to ensuring economic growth remains the central mission of the government. The group, largely composed of MPs from the 2024 intake, positions itself as the voice of “the builders, not the blockers” and provides organised support for ministers taking on politically difficult decisions in the name of economic expansion.

In an open letter addressed to Keir Starmer, issued upon the group’s founding in July 2024, LGG MPs said it was imperative that “the government grasps the nettle and goes for growth”.

They added: “This absolutely has to start with the sweeping planning reforms to get Britain building again. Under the Tories, planning permissions for new homes hit record lows and housebuilding cratered. Indeed, not once in their 14 years in power did the Conservatives meet their housing targets.

“Energy and transport projects were promised but not built. That’s why we are writing to you to make clear that it’s in the national interest to start delivering on our manifesto promise, including 1.5 million more homes across this parliament at the earliest opportunity.

“A failure to act will not be forgiven by the public. Britain has a housing crisis and a huge infrastructure deficit – without strong and immediate action, this will only worsen.”

Labour Movement for Europe: McKee 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): McKee 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

McKee 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 issued after the bill’s third reading, McKee said: “I remain unconvinced that the safeguards against coercion are strong enough.

“Several amendments which have been rejected by proponents of the bill have only served to convince me further that the bill is unfit for purpose, especially on a literal level of life and death.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): McKee 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

Born on 30 September 1994 in Rutherglen, Strathclyde, McKee attended local schools.

He initially studied computer science at the University of Glasgow but dropped out. He went on to work as a software engineer, including developing iPhone apps.

In his 2024 maiden speech, McKee said: “I taught myself to code. I watched YouTube videos and over weeks, months and years I learned how to build software.

“I developed iPhone apps that were used around the world, meaning that code written on my laptop in Glasgow could be pushed out to devices around the world in seconds and that this 19-year-old kid in his childhood bedroom could run an app servicing people from Los Angeles to Dubai.”

McKee moved into politics and was a pro-union activist during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. He served as campaign director for Anas Sarwar’s successful campaign to become leader of the Scottish Labour Party in 2021, and later as an adviser to Ian Murray as shadow secretary of state for Scotland (2023-2024).

Personal Life

McKee lives in his Glasgow South constituency.

Trivia

McKee has explained the UK’s debt to GDP ratio using custard creams.