Karl Turner

Karl William Turner (born 15 April 1971) is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hull East since 2010. He was appointed Shadow Attorney General in January 2016 by Jeremy Corbyn, before resigning in June.

Early life
Born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, Turner was educated at Bransholme High School from 1984 to 1987, and left school at the age of 16. From 1987 to 1989, he attended HCC Training to study Business Administration. Later, Turner became a self-employed antiques dealer. He returned to education in the late 1990s to study A-levels at Hull College, before he graduated with a law degree as a mature student from the University of Hull in 2004. He became a barrister in 2005 after passing the Bar Vocational Course at Northumbria University and went on to practise criminal law for the Max Gold Partnership in Hull.

Parliamentary career
Turner was selected by the Labour Party as the prospective parliamentary candidate for Kingston upon Hull East in March 2008 (although this was not confirmed by Labour Party HQ until August 2008) for the upcoming general election after John Prescott confirmed he would not stand. He was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull East at the 2010 general election by a majority of 8,597.

In April 2014, Turner referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards after complaints were made in relation to invitations to a £45-a-head Labour Party fundraising event. The invitations were sent using parliamentary email accounts. The Commissioner for Standards concluded that there should be no inquiry. He was appointed Shadow Solicitor General by Labour leader Ed Miliband on 3 December 2014, and continued to serve as an opposition whip.

On 11 January 2016, Turner was appointed Shadow Attorney General to replace Catherine McKinnell who resigned following a reshuffle to the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn. On 26 June 2016, Turner resigned from the Shadow Cabinet following the EU referendum, among a number of his colleagues unhappy with Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

On 14 October 2016, it was announced that Turner had returned to Labour's frontbench as a Whip. Following the 2017 general election he was appointed as Shadow Shipping, Aviation and Road Safety Minister within the Shadow Transport team.

Alleged sexual abuse
On 12 March 2018, allegations of sexual misconduct against Turner were revealed to the British press. Turner was said to have slapped a woman's buttocks in 2015 and, in 2014 complained that the same woman, who had had a double mastectomy, had removed her 'great' breasts and had made comments about her bottom. Turner, via his solicitors, denied making any such comments or behaving inappropriately.

When contacted for comment, the Labour Party has said it takes all complaints about inappropriate behaviour "extremely seriously", but has not yet received an official complaint.

Personal life
He is married to Leanne Turner.