Richard Burgon

Richard Burgon (born 19 September 1980) is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds East. He is also the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor.

Burgon studied English Literature at St John's College, Cambridge, where he was chair of Cambridge University Labour Club. After working as a trade union lawyer, he was elected as the MP for Leeds East at the 2015 general election. He was appointed as Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury (City Minister) in September 2015 by new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Burgon was promoted to Shadow Justice Secretary in June 2016 following multiple resignations in protest against the leadership of Corbyn.

Early life and education
Burgon was educated at Cardinal Heenan Roman Catholic High School in Leeds. As this school did not have a sixth form, he moved onto St Aidan's and St John Fisher Associated Sixth Form in Harrogate to complete his A-Levels. He then studied English Literature at St John's College, Cambridge. He was chair of Cambridge University Labour Club.

He is the nephew of the former Labour MP Colin Burgon, and stood at the age of 23 as one of the Labour candidates for the Wetherby ward on Leeds City Council in 2004.

Career
Burgon qualified as a solicitor in 2006, and was a trade union lawyer before being elected as the MP for Leeds East at the 2015 general election.

Standing on the floor of the House of Commons in May 2015 he prefaced his mandatory oath of allegiance to Elizabeth II by expressing his support for constitutional change for an elected head of state: "As someone that believes that the head of state should be elected I make this oath in order to serve my constituents".

He was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015. Corbyn appointed him as shadow economic secretary to the treasury (city minister).

In an October 2015 Channel 4 News interview, Burgon admitted that despite being Shadow City Minister for more than a month he was still yet to actually meet anyone from the city of London's finance and banking industry, nor could he predict the UK budget deficit for 2015. Burgon was promoted to Shadow Justice Secretary on 27 June 2016 following multiple resignations in protest against the leadership of Corbyn. In September 2017, the political commentator Iain Dale listed Burgon at Number 86 in 'The 100 Most Influential People on the Left', writing: "Described by some as Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Comical Ali’ Burgon is certainly a true believer."

Views
Burgon is regarded as being on the left of the Labour Party and has taken part in People's Assembly Against Austerity protests. He has opposed military intervention and the bombing of Syria following the November 2015 Paris attacks by ISIS militants.