Joe Powell is the Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Joe Powell won 17,025 votes (40.6%). The Conservative candidate, Felicity Buchan, received 14,122 votes (33.7%), while the Liberal Democrat candidate, William Houngbo, secured 2,910 votes (6.9%). Powell was duly elected with a majority of 2,903.  

The Kensington and Bayswater constituency was newly created ahead of the 2024 election, formed primarily from the former Kensington seat, with parts of the former Cities of London and Westminster, and Chelsea and Fulham constituencies.

Political Career

Powell serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Ministry of Justice (since September 2025). 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.

Powell was retained in this PPS post following the 2026 Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

In May 2026, Powell 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 June 2025, Powell was one of 22 newly elected Labour MPs who co-signed a letter to the leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) calling for improved paternity leave for parliamentary staff. The letter, organised in collaboration with the campaign group The Dad Shift, argued that the current provision of two weeks’ paid leave was “unfair” and left parliament trailing behind leading private and public sector employers.

The letter said current rules meant MPs were “unable to support our staff appropriately at some of the most important times of their lives”.

They added: “Dads in our offices get just two weeks off, a situation that is unfair and puts parliament many steps behind top employers across the country.”

In response, a government spokesperson told PoliticsHome: “We are committed to making sure parents receive the best possible support to balance their work and home lives as part of our Plan to Make Work Pay.”

In January 2025, Powell called for the Electoral Commission to consider assessing the merits of banning foreign donations to UK political parties. His intervention followed reports that Elon Musk was considering a large donation to Reform UK.

Powell cited Transparency International UK “estimates that £1 in every £10 in our system – £150 million since 2021 – comes from questionable or unknown sources.”

He told the House: “In recent weeks we have seen the unedifying spectacle of opposition parties trying to curry favour with one particular foreign billionaire. However, this issue is much bigger than Elon Musk. Transparency International UK estimates that £1 in every £10 in our system – £150 million since 2021 – comes from questionable or unknown sources.”

He asked: “When will these proposals come forward, so that we can debate them in the House and tackle this threat to our democracy?”

Conservative MP Sir Jeremy Wright, responding on behalf of the Electoral Commission, responded that proposals to change the law must come from the government.

Powell has sat as a member of the House of Commons housing, communities and local government select committee (2024-2025).

Powell delivered his maiden speech on 18 July 2024, during a debate on foreign affairs and defence.

In it, he said: “I have spent my career working to make democracy work better in dozens of countries around the world by supporting reformers in government to work with civil society to be more transparent, more inclusive and more accountable and to deliver for people on the priorities that they care about.

“In Kensington and Bayswater, that means, for example, getting a grip on the dirty money in luxury property that still stains our community.”

He added: “There is no worse example of what happens when government stops listening to people and when transparency and accountability are discarded than what happened at Grenfell Tower over seven years ago.

“Seventy-two people lost their life in an entirely preventable tragedy, yet we still do not have truth, justice and change for the bereaved, survivors and affected community.”

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Powell 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: Powell 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.”

Living Standards Coalition: Powell is a member of the Living Standards Coalition. Established in July 2025, the group’s stated aim was to develop and promote policy ideas that directly reduce everyday costs for households, particularly in areas such as food, energy, housing and childcare. In an open letter published upon its founding, addressed to Keir Starmer, the MPs wrote: “Our constituents will ask one question at the next election: did this Labour government make me better off?”

They added: “To raise living standards, we support government interventions that will help to increase incomes and lower costs.”

Labour Movement for Europe: Powell 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”.

Fair elections APPG: Powell is listed as a supporter of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

Compass: Powell was endorsed by local groups of the cross-party organisation Compass during the 2024 general election. Compass is a thinktank and campaign group. As part of its “Win as One” campaign in the 2024 election, local Compass groups backed a slate of progressive candidates who had pledged their support for electoral reform. The central aim of the initiative was to elect a “caucus” of MPs who would champion the cause of replacing the first past the post electoral system.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Powell 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

Powell voted in favour of 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).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Powell 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.

Foreign policy and security

IPAC: Powell is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) – an international, cross-party network of legislators from democratic countries focused on relations with the People’s Republic of China. The alliance, established on 4 June 2020, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, was formed to unite “lawmakers worldwide, promoting democracy and addressing threats to the rules-based and human rights systems posed by the rise of China.”

Palestine

LFPME: Powell has been listed as a member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East (LFPME). The organisation’s stated aim is to promote peace and justice in the region through the application of international law and respect for human rights.

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Powell was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Before Politics

Born Joseph Edward Powell, he grew up in Queen’s Park, London.

Powell attended University College School. He studied geography at the University of Cambridge, graduating in 2007. He later obtained a master’s degree from Makerere University in Uganda (2009).  

Powell’s career before entering parliament centred on policy and advocacy roles, including for Action Aid Uganda and the ONE Campaign.

From 2013 to 2024, Powell worked at the Open Government Partnership (OGP), the global initiative founded by former US president Barack Obama, including as deputy CEO. He was Obama Europe leader for the Obama Foundation from 2020 to 2024.

In 2022, Powell co-founded Kensington Against Dirty Money – a campaign centred on tackling “dirty money in luxury property in our borough”.

Personal Life

Powell lives in his Kensington and Bayswater constituency.

Powell is married. His wife gave birth to twins during the first week of the 2024 general election campaign.

In his 2024 maiden speech, Powell told the House: “If timing is everything in politics, that is certainly not a combination I would recommend anyone repeat – but my children will obviously have a great story to tell when they are older.”

Trivia

Powell is a lifelong Queens Park Rangers FC fan.