View source for Jon Ashworth

{{person
|image=Jonathan_Ashworth.jpg
|image_width=240px
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ashworth
|constitutes=politician
|birth_date=14 October 1978
|description=Jonathan Ashworth confided in a [[Tory]] friend that Labour wasn't going to win the [[UK/2019 General Election]]. [[Keir Starmer]] kept him in his position.
|birth_name=Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth
|alma_mater=Durham University
|spouses=Emilie Oldknow
|children=Gracie, Annie
|political_parties=Labour Co-op
|employment={{job
|title=Shadow Paymaster General.
|start=4 September 2023
|end=5 July 2024
|appointer=Keir Starmer
}}{{job
|title=Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary
|start=29 November 2021
|end=4 September 2023
|appointer=Keir Starmer
}}{{job
|title=Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
|start=7 October 2016
|end=29 November 2021
|appointer=Jeremy Corbyn, Keir Starmer
}}{{job
|title=UK/Member of Parliament for Leicester South
|start=5 May 2011
|end=30 May 2024
}}
}}
'''Jonathan Ashworth''' is a British [[Labour Party]] politician who was [[Member of Parliament]] (MP) for Leicester South from 2011 to the [[UK/General election/2024]] when he was defeated by nearly 1,000 votes. The victorious Independent [[Shockat Adam]] said:{{QB|
:“This is for [[Gaza]].”<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/05/labour-loses-three-seats-to-pro-palestinian-candidates "Senior Labour figures admit stance on Gaza cost party seats"]''</ref>}}

On 9 July 2024, Jon Ashworth was appointed chief executive of the highly influential [[Starmer]]ite thinktank [[Labour Together]] after losing his parliamentary seat.<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/09/jonathan-ashworth-new-boss-labour-together-thinktank "Ex-MP Jonathan Ashworth named as new boss of Labour Together thinktank"]''</ref>

==Political career==
Jon Ashworth worked as [[Special Adviser]] to [[Gordon Brown]] and head of party relations for [[Ed Miliband]].<ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110423180253/http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Ashworth-pledges-champion-city/article-3352055-detail/article.html "Labour candidate Ashworth promises to be a 'champion' for city if he wins by-election"]''</ref> He was first elected at a by-election in 2011, following the resignation of his predecessor [[Peter Soulsby]].

In October 2016, Ashworth was appointed [[Shadow Secretary of State for Health|Shadow Health Secretary]] by party leader [[Jeremy Corbyn]], shadowing [[Matt Hancock]] alongside the Shadow Social Care Minister [[Barbara Keeley]].<ref>''[https://labour.org.uk/people/shadow-cabinet/ "Shadow Cabinet The Labour Party"]''</ref><ref>''[https://members.parliament.uk/Opposition/Cabinet "Her Majesty's Official Opposition: The Shadow Cabinet"]''</ref>

In April 2020, Ashworth was reappointed to the position by new Labour leader [[Keir Starmer]], gaining the additional portfolio of Social Care in England.

=== Labour Party officer: 2001–2004 ===
Jon Ashworth began working for the [[Labour Party]] as a Political Research Officer in 2001, and was the Economics and Welfare Policy Officer from 2002 to 2004.<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/27620.stm "Jon Ashworth MP BBC Democracy Live"]''</ref> In 2003, he was seconded to the Scottish Labour Party to work on the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, where he worked closely with then-[[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], [[Gordon Brown]]. Following the election, Scottish Labour remained the single-largest party at Holyrood and were re-elected, but the coalition with the Scottish [[Lib Dems]] remained in place.

=== Special adviser: 2004–2011 ===
From 2004, he was appointed as [[Special Adviser]] to Treasury Chief Secretaries [[Paul Boateng]], [[Des Browne]] and [[Stephen Timms]], but in practice he worked for [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[Gordon Brown]]. His main job was liaising with the Labour movement and an ''[[Evening Standard]]'' profile said "his contact book was "stuffed with constituency officers and union organisers", and there was newspaper speculation that he would be Political Secretary at [[10 Downing Street]] in a potential future Brown government.

When [[Gordon Brown]] became Prime Minister in June 2007, Ashworth was appointed deputy Political Secretary with the role of linking the Government to the trade unions. There was speculation later that year that Ashworth might be selected to replace [[John Prescott]] as the official Labour candidate for Kingston upon Hull East although it came to nothing. Ashworth spent most of the 2008 Crewe and Nantwich by-election campaign in the constituency.

After the Labour Party were defeated at the 2010 General Election, Ashworth became Political Secretary to the acting party leader [[Harriet Harman]]. He did not publicly support any candidate in the subsequent leadership election because of his role working for [[Harriet Harman]] but he was described as a "key member" of [[Ed Miliband]]'s team on the day after Miliband won the 2010 Labour Party leadership election. When Miliband was elected as [[Leader of the Labour Party]], he asked Ashworth to join his office as Head of Party Relations.

===Parliamentary candidate: 2011===
With a General Election imminent, Ashworth was identified as someone who the [[Labour Party]] leadership wished to find a seat for. He was linked with a possible candidature in Mansfield should the sitting MP [[Alan Meale]] decide to stand down, but Meale decided to seek re-election despite widespread speculation he was to retire from Parliament. Ashworth was then identified as a potential candidate for Nottingham East when the sitting MP [[John Heppell]] retired, but the selection went to former MP [[Chris Leslie]] when the Labour [[National Executive Committee]] chose to impose Leslie at the last minute.

Ashworth sought selection in the Leicester South constituency in 2011 when the sitting MP [[Peter Soulsby]] decided to resign to seek election as Mayor of Leicester. He was immediately identified as the front-runner for the selection and was backed by the major trade unions including his own [[Unite the Union|Unite]], [[GMB (trade union)|GMB]] and [[UNISON]].

Ashworth was also endorsed by the [[Co-operative Party]] and is also a [[Co-operative Party]] MP. He was selected on the first ballot by the local party, and held the seat with an increased majority on 5 May 2011.

=== In opposition: from 2011 ===
Following the row over alleged undue influence of trade unions in the Falkirk constituency selection in 2013, Ashworth penned a piece for ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' claiming that it is ordinary people – not the unions – who choose Labour MPs.<ref>''[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/10159801/Labours-links-to-the-trade-unions-Im-proud-of-them.html "Labour's links to the trade unions? I'm proud of them"]''</ref>

On 11 July 2013, Jon Ashworth replaced [[Tom Watson]] on the [[National Executive Committee]].<ref>''[http://labourlist.org/2013/07/jonathan-ashworth-to-replace-tom-watson-on-labours-nec/ "Jonathan Ashworth to replace Tom Watson on Labour's NEC"]''</ref>

Jon Ashworth nominated [[Yvette Cooper]] to be [[Leader of the Labour Party]] following the resignation of [[Ed Miliband]] after the 2015 General Election.<ref>[http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Jon-Ashworth-backs-Yvette-Cooper-city-neighbour/story-26662467-detail/story.html "Jon Ashworth backs Yvette Cooper over city neighbour Liz Kendall in Labour leadership race"]''</ref> He nominated [[Tom Watson]] as Deputy Leader.<ref>''[http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/06/who-nominated-who-2015-labour-deputy-leadership-election "Who nominated who in the 2015 Labour deputy leadership election?"]''</ref>

Following his election as Labour Party leader, [[Jeremy Corbyn]] appointed Ashworth to the [[Shadow Cabinet]] role of Shadow Minister without Portfolio.<ref>''[http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Leicester-South-MP-Jon-Ashworth-Jeremy-Corbyn-s/story-27794193-detail/story.html "Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth becomes Jeremy Corbyn's shadow minister without portfolio"]''</ref> In December 2015, Ashworth voted against the resolution to authorise RAF bombing of [[ISIL]] in [[Syria]].<ref>''[http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Jon-Ashworth-MP-Leicester-Leicestershire-vote/story-28291270-detail/story.html "Jon Ashworth the only MP from Leicester and Leicestershire to vote against Syria air strikes"]''</ref>

Jon Ashworth was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Health in October 2016. Following the [[UK/2017 General Election]], he went on record to say a Labour government would not repeal the controversial Health and Social Care Act 2012 despite Labour's manifesto commitment to do so.<ref>''[https://healthcaretimes.co.uk/labour-will-not-roll-back-health-and-social-care-act/ "Labour Will not Roll Back Health and Social Care Act – Healthcare Times"]''</ref>

On 10 December 2019, it emerged that Ashworth had told a friend that he did not believe Labour would win the [[UK/2019 General Election]] due to be held two days later. He said that this was largely due to the unpopularity of [[Jeremy Corbyn]] and voters outside the cities blaming Labour for not delivering [[Brexit]]. His friend, who was a Conservative activist, leaked a recording of the conversation to the [[Guido Fawkes]] website. Ashworth later claimed that he was joking and just "joshing around".<ref>''[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50726592 "General election 2019: Jonathan Ashworth apologises after Corbyn criticism leak"]''</ref>

Jon Ashworth supported [[Lisa Nandy]] in the [[2020 Labour Party leadership contest]].<ref>''[https://www.wigantoday.net/news/politics/here-are-the-23-mps-backing-wigan-s-lisa-nandy-in-the-labour-party-leadership-contest-1-10193818 "Here are the 23 MPs backing Wigan's Lisa Nandy in the Labour Party leadership contest"]''</ref> When [[Keir Starmer]] won the contest, he decided to keep Ashworth on as Shadow Health Secretary, extending his portfolio to include social care. Conservative [[Secretary of State for Health and Social Care|Health and Social Care Secretary]] [[Matt Hancock]] had recently praised Ashworth for his help devising government policy on the [[2019–20 coronavirus pandemic]] after the pandemic spread to the [[United Kingdom]] in January 2020.<ref>''[https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmers-new-labour-shadow-21817056 "Keir Starmer's new Labour shadow cabinet unveiled - with Corbyn allies out"]''</ref> 

==Personal life==
Jon Ashworth became engaged to [[Emilie Oldknow]], the East Midlands Regional Director for the [[Labour Party]], in 2008.<ref>''[https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/fresh-blow-for-labour-as-senior-official-dubbed-brains-of-the-party-quits "Fresh blow for Labour as senior official dubbed 'brains of the party' quits"]''</ref><ref>''[https://twitter.com/Cornish_Damo/status/1249405720065343490 "Here's Emilie Oldknow, Jon Ashworth's wife attempting to block the Chakrabarti Report going on the then new Labour website...pic.twitter.com/fsPsaSsZHu"]''</ref> She was the official Labour candidate for Sherwood at the 2010 General Election, but was not elected. Former Prime Minister [[Gordon Brown]] and his wife [[Sarah Jane Brown|Sarah]] attended the couple's wedding on 3 July 2010 in Derbyshire.<ref>Guest Appearance". The Sunday Telegraph. London. 4 July 2010</ref> They have a daughter, Gracie, born in May 2011 shortly after his by-election victory,<ref>''[http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/oh-baby-joy-city-s-new-mp-gracie-born/story-12107473-detail/story.html "Oh baby! Joy for city's new MP as Gracie born"]''</ref> and a second daughter, Annie.

On 12 April 2020, [[Emilie Oldknow]] was identified as one of the [[Labour Party]]'s "[[Senior Management Team]]" who were engaged in undermining former [[Leader of the Labour Party|Labour leader]] [[Jeremy Corbyn]] and working to ensure the party was defeated in the [[UK/2017 General Election]].<ref>''[https://novaramedia.com/2020/04/12/its-going-to-be-a-long-night-how-members-of-labours-senior-management-campaigned-to-lose/ "‘It’s going to be a long night’ – How Members of Labour’s Senior Management Team Campaigned to Lose"]''</ref>

He remained Shadow Health Secretary when [[Keir Starmer]] became [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)]].

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==References==
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