Bridgwater is attracting it’s fair share of high flying MPs of late. We’ve had Clive Lewis, Thangam Debonaire and Geraint Davies in the past couple of months and now we have Leeds East MP Richard Burgon. Richard will be appearing by ZOOM at 7pm on March 17th.His topic for the evening will be “The Coronavirus Crisis and Beyond: The Challenges We Face”.
With the meeting scheduled for St Patrick’s day, Richard says “My family have lived and worked in Leeds for over a hundred years, ever since arriving as immigrants from Ireland. I was educated at Cardinal Heenan Roman Catholic High School. I was the first person in my family to go to university, studying at Cambridge. Straight after university, I returned home to Leeds and became a trade union lawyer. For more than a decade I helped care workers, nurses, dinner ladies, bin men and other working people in East Leeds who face redundancy, discrimination, pay cuts they simply can’t afford or other problems at work through no fault of their own.”
Richard has been MP for Leeds East since 2015 and served as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice under Jeremy Corbyn. He also stood for Deputy Leader in the 2020 Leadership elections.
Richard is a member of GMB union and secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs
But what about Richard’s outside interests? “Away from politics, my interests include live music and supporting Leeds United through our ups and downs. I’m a member of the East Leeds History and Archaeology Society and the Leeds United Supporters’ Trust. My favourite pint is Leeds Pale.”