Siobhain McDonagh was first elected as the Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden in 1997, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 16,482.
The south London constituency of Mitcham and Morden is an economically mixed seat that contains large areas of social housing to the north, as well as some more affluent areas around Lower Mordern. This was once a tightly fought Labour and Conservative marginal that was held by the Conservatives between 1983 and 1997. However in recent years this has become a far safer Labour seat in which the party polls some three fifths of the vote. It is an ethnically diverse area, which with a high commuter population, maintains a relatively young demographic.
McDonagh served as an assistant government whip between 2007 and 2008, before becoming critical of Gordon Brown during his time as Prime Minister.
She backed Jess Phillips in the 2020 Labour leadership election, having supported Owen Smith in his 2016 challenge to Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader.
Considered to be on the right of the Labour Party she backed, Liz Kendall and David Miliband in the 2015 and 2010 contests respectively.
Born in 1960, McDonagh was educated at Essex University. Before becoming an MP she worked as a clerk at the Department of Health and Social Security. She was also a receptionist at Wandsworth Council’s Homeless Families Unit, and Development Manager at Battersea Churches Housing Trust
Her sister Margaret McDoangh sits in the House of Lords and was a former general secretary of the Labour Party. She lives with her sister five minutes away from the house in which they grew up as children.
In 1982 McDonagh was elected to Merton Council and became London’s youngest councillor. She later became Chair of Merton Council’s Housing Committee where she oversaw the demolition of a number of tower blocks in the borough.
At Westminster she is a campaigner for affordable housing.
In 2022 she led a campaign calling for British judges to be withdrawn fro Hong Kong’s court of final appeal in protest against China’s impostion of the 2020 National Security Law.
Siobhain McDonagh is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community; Almshouses; Children who Need Palliative Care. She is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group of Cleaning and Hygiene; Conception to Age Two; Media Literacy; Shared Home Ownership; Social Mobility; Tamils; and Hong Kong.
Email: mcdonaghs@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://www.siobhainmcdonagh.org.uk/
Twitter: @Siobhain_MP
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Siobhain-McDonagh/
