Tony Vaughan

Tony Vaughan KC is the Labour MP for Folkestone and Hythe and the first MP of Filipino heritage in British history. Born in March 1982 to a mother who came to Britain from the Philippines, he grew up in Hitchin, read Law at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, took an LLM at SOAS, and was called to the bar in 2006, practising for 19 years at Doughty Street Chambers, one of the UK's leading human rights sets.

He was appointed King's Counsel in March 2025, after entering Parliament, and is the only KC in the Commons besides the Prime Minister to take silk outside a ministerial role. In his legal career he represented people the Home Office classified as extremist threats in deportation cases, alongside asylum, trafficking and human rights work, and defends that record plainly: "Judges need high-quality lawyers to help them decide difficult cases." He raised his family in Folkestone, where he was a local charity trustee.

His win ended one of the longest unbroken holds in the country: Folkestone and Hythe had returned a Conservative at every general election since 1885, a 139 year run that included Michael Howard, the former Home Secretary and party leader. He has already secured a tangible result, lobbying successfully for the constituency to be one of only six areas in the South East chosen for the government's Neighbourhood Health Team pilot.

He sits on the Justice Committee, which matches his expertise, and the Petitions Committee, is joint chair of the APPG on Refugees and chairs the All Party Parliamentary China Group. He has voted in 370 divisions with zero rebellions, despite his public criticism of asylum policy, and was elected in 2024 with 15,020 votes (34.7 per cent) and a majority of 3,729 (8.6 per cent), with Reform UK on 24.7 per cent.

His majority is 3,729 (8.6 per cent) on a 34.7 per cent vote share, with Reform second on 24.7 per cent, one of the more marginal Labour holds. He chairs the APPG on China and is joint chair of the Refugees APPG, and has criticised the government's asylum and deportation policy while keeping a loyal voting record.