Tom Rutland

Tom Rutland is the first ever Labour MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, a seat Tim Loughton, a former Children's Minister, had held for 27 years since its creation in 1997. Born in February 1992, he grew up just over the Sussex border in Kent, attended a state school, and now lives in Shoreham. He read PPE at Jesus College, Oxford, was JCR President there and then President of the Oxford University Student Union in 2013/14, the most senior student political role at Oxford.

His career after Oxford was wide. He worked on Tessa Jowell's 2015 campaign to be Labour's London mayoral candidate, was a parliamentary researcher for Lord Adonis, an analyst at Deloitte, an executive support officer at Tower Hamlets Council, a Public Affairs Officer at Imperial College London, a press officer at the Financial Conduct Authority, and finally press officer at the Prospect trade union until 2024. He was a Lambeth councillor from 2022 to 2024.

He was elected in 2024 with 22,120 votes (45.1 per cent) and a majority of 9,519 (19.4 per cent), defeating the Conservative Leila Williams. He sits on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee and chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group for the BBC. In May 2026 he resigned as PPS to Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds and called for Keir Starmer to set out a timetable for leaving office.