Taiwo Owatemi

Taiwo Owatemi has been Labour MP for Coventry North West since 2019 and is a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, a Government Whip. Born in July 1992 and a graduate of the Medway School of Pharmacy at the University of Kent with an integrated Master of Pharmacy, she worked as a Senior Cancer Pharmacist in the NHS, specialising in oncology and palliative care, and joined Labour after her professional experience drew her to health inequalities. She is an unpaid director of the clothing company Afrika Connekt Ltd.

She was first elected in 2019 at the age of 27, defeating Conservative Clare Golby by just 208 votes, and elected again in 2024 with a much larger majority of 11,174 (26.6 per cent), turning one of the most marginal results in the country into a safe seat.

She served as PPS to Nick Thomas-Symonds as Shadow Home Secretary, as Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities (2021 to 2022), and on the Health and Social Care Committee through the Covid years, before being appointed a Government Whip in July 2024. She has voted in 460 divisions with no whipped rebellions, and as a whip is barred from speaking in debate, which silences her pharmacy and health expertise in the chamber. She also attracted scrutiny over a "pet rent" claim of roughly £900 a year from IPSA to allow her cockapoo to live with her in a London rental; IPSA accepted the claim as within the rules, but critics called it an inappropriate use of public funds.