Polly Billington
Polly Billington MP | |
---|---|
![]() Official portrait, 2024 | |
Member of Parliament for East Thanet | |
Incumbent | |
Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
Preceded by | constituency re-established |
Majority | 6,971 (16.3%) |
Personal details | |
Born | November 1967 (age 56) |
Political party | Labour |
Alma mater | University of Sussex (BA) |
Polly Billington (born 1967) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Member of Parliament for East Thanet since 2024.
Prior to her election she was an environmental campaigner and had worked as a broadcast journalist for the BBC before becoming a special advisor to Ed Miliband. She was the media director for his successful bid in the 2010 Labour leadership election.[1] In 2016 she founded the climate politics network UK100.[2]
Education
Billington was educated at the Ursuline High School, Wimbledon, and Sussex University, before taking a postgraduate diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the department of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Central Lancashire in 1993.[3]
Professional career
Billington was a BBC reporter for the Today programme, News 24, the 'Politics Show' 'Newsbeat and on Radio 1 as the first dedicated Political Reporter for Newsbeat.[4]
Billington was the Head of Communications and Campaigns at Citizens Advice from Jan 2013 - January 2015, coordinating campaigns on energy, welfare and payday loans, before resigning to fight the highly marginal three-way contest of Thurrock at the general election.[5]
Billington founded UK100 in 2016,[2] a network for UK locally elected leaders who have pledged to switch to 100% clean energy by 2050.[6] She served as the CEO until February 2023 when she was selected as a parliamentary candidate.[7]
Billington received the Business Green Leader of the Year Award in 2023, for her "inspirational role in establishing UK100 as one of the most respected and important voices on climate policy in the UK".[8]
Politico Europe reported in May 2023 that Billington had accepted a Senior Adviser role at the PR lobbying firm Hanover Communications - in their election planning team.[9]
Politics
Billington became a special adviser to Ed Miliband in 2007 when he was working on party policy and election strategy in the Cabinet Office[10] and according to The Daily Telegraph she was the 59th most influential person on the UK left in 2011.[11]
She was the media director for Ed Miliband's successful Labour leadership bid.[12]
In December 2011, Billington was selected for Thurrock,[13] a marginal seat. She was one of 15 Labour candidates each given financial support of £10,000 by Lord Matthew Oakeshott in January 2015.[14] The tight three-way contest resulted in a Tory hold by 536 votes over Billington with UKIP coming third.[15]
Billington worked on Sadiq Khan's campaign to be selected as Labour's mayoral candidate for London, leading on communications.[16] She was one of two Labour Party councillors elected to De Beauvoir ward in the 2018 Hackney London Borough Council election, with 1,448 votes.[17] She was reelected in 2022, with 1,400 votes.[18]
Billington has served as an Executive Member of SERA, Labour's Environment Campaign[19] and is on the advisory group of Labour Climate and Environment Forum.[20]
On 24 February 2023 she was selected by local Labour party members as the parliamentary candidate for East Thanet at the 2024 general election.[21] She was elected in the general election on 4 July 2024.[22]
She is LGBT+ and received support from The Chris Smith List.[23]
References
- ^ "Channel Four, Who Knows Who". Retrieved 21 February 2011.
- ^ a b "UK100". Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ "University of Central Lancashire, Graduate returns for the Newsbeat challenge". Retrieved 21 February 2011.
- ^ "MEDIA: Billington on political form at Radio 1". www.prweek.com. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
- ^ "Citizen Advice hires Top Labour advisor Polly Billington". Retrieved 27 February 2013.
- ^ "UK100 members". Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ "Labour's Polly Billington selected to fight for current South Thanet seat in next General Election". 27 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
- ^ "UK Green Business Awards: And the winner is..." 30 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
- ^ "London Influence: Hanover's Labour grab — Open government latest — Meet Ridgeway". POLITICO. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
- ^ "Civil Service Live Network". Retrieved 21 February 2011.
- ^ "The Top 100 Most Influential People on the Left 2011: 51–75". Retrieved 21 February 2011.
- ^ "Channel Four, Who Knows Who". Retrieved 21 February 2011.
- ^ Ferguson, Mark (3 December 2011). "Thurrock PPC selected". LabourList. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Former Lib Dem Lord Oakeshott donates £300,000 to Labour candidates". New Statesman. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ "Election results for Thurrock, 7 May 2015". democracy.thurrock.gov.uk. 7 May 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
- ^ "Who's who on Team Sadiq". 22 May 2015.
- ^ "Borough councillors election 2018". hackney.gov.uk. Hackney Council. 4 May 2018. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
- ^ "Council election results". hackney.gov.uk. Hackney Council. 6 May 2022.
- ^ "SERA's 2016/17 Executive Committee". SERA - Labour's Environment Campaign. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
- ^ "LCEF who we are".
- ^ Neame, Katie (27 February 2023). "Two more local Labour Parties select their next parliamentary candidates". LabourList | Latest UK Labour Party news, analysis and comment. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
- ^ Bowles, Millie (4 July 2024). "East Thanet general election full results". Retrieved 5 July 2024.
- ^ "The Chris Smith List". LGBT+ Labour. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
---|---|---|
New constituency Re-established | Member of Parliament for East Thanet 2024–present | Incumbent |
- v
- t
- e
- Labour Party
- Parliamentary Labour Party
- List of Labour Party MPs
- Luke Akehurst
- Lewis Atkinson
- Jonathan Brash
- Alan Campbell
- Mark Ferguson
- Emma Foody
- Mary Foy
- Mary Glindon
- Sharon Hodgson
- Ian Lavery
- Emma Lewell-Buck
- Andy McDonald
- Chris McDonald
- Lola McEvoy
- Catherine McKinnell
- Grahame Morris
- Joe Morris
- Luke Myer
- Chi Onwurah
- Kate Osborne
- Bridget Phillipson
- Sam Rushworth
- David Smith
- Alan Strickland
- Anna Turley
- Liz Twist
- Debbie Abrahams
- Mike Amesbury
- David Baines
- Paula Barker
- Lorraine Beavers
- Elsie Blundell
- Phil Brickell
- Markus Campbell-Savours
- Dan Carden
- Lizzi Collinge
- Andrew Cooper
- Ashley Dalton
- Samantha Dixon
- Peter Dowd
- Angela Eagle
- Maria Eagle
- Maya Ellis
- Kirith Entwistle
- Bill Esterson
- Paul Foster
- James Frith
- Andrew Gwynne
- Sarah Hall
- Mark Hendrick
- Jonathan Hinder
- Patrick Hurley
- Kim Johnson
- Mike Kane
- Afzal Khan
- Josh MacAlister
- Andy MacNae
- Justin Madders
- Alison McGovern
- Jim McMahon
- Anneliese Midgley
- Julie Minns
- Navendu Mishra
- Connor Naismith
- Lisa Nandy
- Charlotte Nichols
- Matthew Patrick
- Jo Platt
- Lucy Powell
- Yasmin Qureshi
- Connor Rand
- Angela Rayner
- Jonathan Reynolds
- Marie Rimmer
- Tim Roca
- Sarah Russell
- Oliver Ryan
- Michelle Scrogham
- Josh Simons
- Cat Smith
- Jeff Smith
- Sarah Smith
- Graham Stringer
- Derek Twigg
- Christian Wakeford
- Paul Waugh
- Chris Webb
- Andrew Western
- Michael Wheeler
- Hilary Benn
- Clive Betts
- Olivia Blake
- Jade Botterill
- Sarah Champion
- Luke Charters
- Yvette Cooper
- Judith Cummins
- Nic Dakin
- Paul Davies
- Kate Dearden
- Anna Dixon
- Josh Fenton-Glynn
- Gill Furniss
- Louise Haigh
- Fabian Hamilton
- Emma Hardy
- John Healey
- Alison Hume
- Sally Jameson
- Dan Jarvis
- Diana Johnson
- Kim Leadbeater
- Simon Lightwood
- Rachael Maskell
- Keir Mather
- Ed Miliband
- Abtisam Mohamed
- Melanie Onn
- Stephanie Peacock
- Lee Pitcher
- Rachel Reeves
- Jake Richards
- Mark Sewards
- Naz Shah
- Alex Sobel
- Marie Tidball
- Jon Trickett
- Karl Turner
- Harpreet Uppal
- Katie White
- Catherine Atkinson
- Lee Barron
- Juliet Campbell
- Jonathan Davies
- Hamish Falconer
- Linsey Farnsworth
- Natalie Fleet
- Lilian Greenwood
- Amanda Hack
- Louise Jones
- Liz Kendall
- Gen Kitchen
- James Naish
- Samantha Niblett
- Alex Norris
- Michael Payne
- Jon Pearce
- Toby Perkins
- Mike Reader
- Lucy Rigby
- Jeevun Sandher
- Baggy Shanker
- Adam Thompson
- Michelle Welsh
- John Whitby
- Jo White
- Nadia Whittome
- Rosie Wrighting
- Steve Yemm
- Tahir Ali
- Alex Ballinger
- Antonia Bance
- Chris Bloore
- Sureena Brackenridge
- Julia Buckley
- Liam Byrne
- Alistair Carns
- Jacob Collier
- Tom Collins
- Sarah Coombes
- Mary Creagh
- Shaun Davies
- Cat Eccles
- Sarah Edwards
- Allison Gardner
- Preet Kaur Gill
- Jodie Gosling
- Paulette Hamilton
- Leigh Ingham
- Adam Jogee
- Gurinder Josan
- Warinder Juss
- Sonia Kumar
- Shabana Mahmood
- Pat McFadden
- Josh Newbury
- Taiwo Owatemi
- Jess Phillips
- Dave Robertson
- John Slinger
- Gareth Snell
- Rachel Taylor
- Laurence Turner
- Valerie Vaz
- Matt Western
- David Williams
- Jack Abbott
- Bayo Alaba
- Jess Asato
- Kevin Bonavia
- David Burton-Sampson
- Sam Carling
- Pam Cox
- Jen Craft
- Josh Dean
- Ben Goldsborough
- Chris Hinchliff
- Rachel Hopkins
- Terry Jermy
- Andrew Lewin
- Clive Lewis
- Alice Macdonald
- Alex Mayer
- Sarah Owen
- Andrew Pakes
- Peter Prinsley
- Jenny Riddell-Carpenter
- Alistair Strathern
- David Taylor
- Matt Turmaine
- Chris Vince
- Mohammad Yasin
- Daniel Zeichner
- Diane Abbott
- Rushanara Ali
- Rosena Allin-Khan
- Fleur Anderson
- James Asser
- Jas Athwal
- Calvin Bailey
- Danny Beales
- Rachel Blake
- Dawn Butler
- Ruth Cadbury
- Nesil Caliskan
- Bambos Charalambous
- Feryal Clark
- Ben Coleman
- Liam Conlon
- Deirdre Costigan
- Neil Coyle
- Stella Creasy
- Janet Daby
- Marsha de Cordova
- Clive Efford
- Florence Eshalomi
- Miatta Fahnbulleh
- Vicky Foxcroft
- Daniel Francis
- Barry Gardiner
- Georgia Gould
- Helen Hayes
- Meg Hillier
- Rupa Huq
- Natasha Irons
- Sarah Jones
- Uma Kumaran
- David Lammy
- Seema Malhotra
- Siobhain McDonagh
- Margaret Mullane
- James Murray
- Abena Oppong-Asare
- Kate Osamor
- Matthew Pennycook
- David Pinto-Duschinsky
- Joe Powell
- Steve Reed
- Ellie Reeves
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy
- Sarah Sackman
- Tulip Siddiq
- Andy Slaughter
- Keir Starmer
- Wes Streeting
- Gareth Thomas
- Emily Thornberry
- Stephen Timms
- Dan Tomlinson
- Catherine West
- Callum Anderson
- Olivia Bailey
- Alex Baker
- Polly Billington
- Beccy Cooper
- Chris Curtis
- Emily Darlington
- Tan Dhesi
- Jim Dickson
- Anneliese Dodds
- Helena Dollimore
- Rosie Duffield
- Lauren Edwards
- Sojan Joseph
- Satvir Kaur
- Naushabah Khan
- Peter Kyle
- Laura Kyrke-Smith
- Peter Lamb
- Amanda Martin
- Kevin McKenna
- Stephen Morgan
- Luke Murphy
- Tris Osborne
- Darren Paffey
- Richard Quigley
- Emma Reynolds
- Matt Rodda
- Tom Rutland
- Lauren Sullivan
- Peter Swallow
- Mike Tapp
- Tony Vaughan
- Chris Ward
- Sean Woodcock
- Yuan Yang
- Dan Aldridge
- Heidi Alexander
- Sadik Al-Hassan
- Matt Bishop
- Neil Duncan-Jordan
- Damien Egan
- Anna Gelderd
- Lloyd Hatton
- Tom Hayes
- Claire Hazelgrove
- Darren Jones
- Jayne Kirkham
- Noah Law
- Kerry McCarthy
- Alex McIntyre
- Perran Moon
- Dan Norris
- Simon Opher
- Luke Pollard
- Steve Race
- Karin Smyth
- Will Stone
- Fred Thomas
- Jessica Toale
- Tonia Antoniazzi
- Alex Barros-Curtis
- Torsten Bell
- Chris Bryant
- Alex Davies-Jones
- Stephen Doughty
- Chris Elmore
- Chris Evans
- Catherine Fookes
- Gill German
- Becky Gittins
- Nia Griffith
- Carolyn Harris
- Claire Hughes
- Gerald Jones
- Ruth Jones
- Stephen Kinnock
- Anna McMorrin
- Jessica Morden
- Kanishka Narayan
- Andrew Ranger
- Nick Smith
- Jo Stevens
- Mark Tami
- Nick Thomas-Symonds
- Henry Tufnell
- Steve Witherden
- Zubir Ahmed
- Douglas Alexander
- Scott Arthur
- Richard Baker
- Johanna Baxter
- Maureen Burke
- Irene Campbell
- Torcuil Crichton
- Graeme Downie
- Patricia Ferguson
- Alan Gemmell
- Tracy Gilbert
- John Grady
- Lillian Jones
- Chris Kane
- Brian Leishman
- Douglas McAllister
- Martin McCluskey
- Blair McDougall
- Gordon McKee
- Frank McNally
- Kirsty McNeill
- Chris Murray
- Ian Murray
- Katrina Murray
- Pamela Nash
- Gregor Poynton
- Joani Reid
- Martin Rhodes
- Michael Shanks
- Euan Stainbank
- Kenneth Stevenson
- Elaine Stewart
- Kirsteen Sullivan
- Alison Taylor
- Imogen Walker
- Melanie Ward