Dan Carden
Daniel Joseph Carden (born 28 October 1986) is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Walton since 2017.[2]
Dan Carden | |
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Carden in 2019 | |
Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury | |
Assumed office 9 April 2020 | |
Leader | Keir Starmer |
Preceded by | Anneliese Dodds |
Shadow Secretary of State for International Development | |
In office 1 December 2018 – 6 April 2020 | |
Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
Preceded by | Kate Osamor |
Succeeded by | Preet Gill |
Shadow Minister for International Development | |
In office 12 January 2018 – 1 December 2018 | |
Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
Preceded by | Roberta Blackman-Woods |
Succeeded by | Preet Gill |
Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton | |
Assumed office 8 June 2017 | |
Preceded by | Steve Rotheram |
Majority | 30,520 (74.8%) |
Personal details | |
Born | Daniel Joseph Carden[1] 28 October 1986 Liverpool, England |
Political party | Labour |
Alma mater | London School of Economics |
Website | facebook |
Early life and career
Carden has described himself as a "proud Scouser", having been born and raised in Liverpool. His mother worked in the NHS for over 40 years.[3] His father, Mike Carden, was the shop steward during the Liverpool dockers' dispute during the 1990s, and was left unemployed for seven years after being sacked for refusing to cross a picket line. In his maiden speech, Carden recalled: “From the age of eight, I stood on picket lines, and I’m as proud to stand alongside workers in struggle today as an MP as I was then as a kid”.[4]
His secondary education was at St Edward's College in West Derby (OE 1998–2005) where he was the Head Boy.[5] He went on to study BSc International Relations at the London School of Economics, where he was also Chair of the University Labour Club.[6]
Prior to becoming an MP, Carden worked as a caseworker and with Len McCluskey at Unite the Union.
Parliamentary career
In 2017, Carden defeated Liverpool City Mayor Joe Anderson, Theresa Griffin MEP and other prominent local figures to be selected by the NEC to become Labour's candidate for Liverpool Walton, after the previous MP Steve Rotheram stood down to become Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor.[7] On 8 June, he was elected MP with 85.7% of the vote with a 32,551 majority – the strongest result in the seat's history.[8]
Carden is a patron of LGBT Labour, one of eight LGBT MPs elected in the 2017 General Election.[9][10] An avowed socialist, he has been compared to his predecessor Eric Heffer, to whom he paid tribute in a memorial lecture in January 2019.[11] He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group.[12]
Carden successfully defended his Liverpool Walton seat in the 2019 General Election, winning 34,538 votes. This represented 84.7% of the vote.[13]
Shadow International Development Secretary
On 1 December 2018, he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for International Development after the resignation of Kate Osamor following events surrounding her son's drugs conviction.[14]
In the run-up to the 2019 General Election, Carden promised “the most radical international development policies ever seen in this country.”[15] He said Labour would turn the CDC Group into a green development bank and create a new Public Services Unit for water, healthcare and education.[16][17] Other policy plans included banning all aid spending on fossil fuels, support for trade unions globally, tripling funding for women's rights groups, introducing an ombudsman for abuse in aid sector and support for small-scale farmers with a Food Sovereignty Fund.[18]
Carden called for the UK to use its influence to democratise the IMF and World Bank, challenging the agenda of liberalising markets, cutting social spending and privatising public services “so the poorest countries can decide their own destiny”.[19] Alongside Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, he proposed an Overseas Loan Transparency Act to establish a new compulsory register to put an end to exploitative secret loans to foreign governments.[20] At the time of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, Carden called for the debts of countries in the Global South to be cancelled so that resources could go towards healthcare not debt repayments.[21][22]
Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury
On 9 April 2020, Carden became Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury following a reshuffle by new party leader Keir Starmer.[23]
Personal life
Carden is a supporter of Liverpool F.C. and an advocate of football fan activism, including Liverpool and Everton supporters' initiative Fans Supporting Foodbanks.[24]
References
- "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11778.
- Thorp, Liam (11 May 2017). "We meet the 30-year-old who beat Mayor Anderson to contest Liverpool MP role". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- "Trade unionist Dan Carden selected in Liverpool Walton". Left Futures. 10 May 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
- "Dan Carden, maiden speech (full)". 13 September 2018.
- "Secondary education".
- "Dan Carden MP talks Parliament, Jeremy Corbyn and music venue closures". Getintothis. 22 October 2018.
- Thomas, Joe (9 June 2017). "Liverpool's new MP Dan Carden 'absolutely honoured'". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- "Liverpool, Walton - 2017 Election Results". General Elections Online. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
- "Patrons". LGBT+ Labour.
- "The UK just elected a record number of LGBTQ people to Parliament". Pink News.
- Carden, Dan (27 January 2019). "Never a Yes Man". Tribune.
- @DanCardenMP (20 December 2018). "Last night @jeremycorbyn visited our Socialist Campaign Group meeting in the same room he was nominated to stand for Leader of the Labour Party" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Liverpool Walton parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- "Labour MP Kate Osamor resigns as shadow international development secretary". New Statesman. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
- MP, Dan Carden (21 November 2019). "I'm proud of our section of the #LabourManifesto, with the most radical international development policies ever seen in this country..."
- McVeigh, Karen (21 November 2019). "Labour vows to make UK development bank a champion of climate justice". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- Carden, Dan (7 August 2019). "People, not profit". Fabians. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- "2019 Labour Manifesto". The Labour Party.
- @DanCardenMP (11 April 2019). "To end global poverty we must change the rules of a failed economic system..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "A Labour Government Will Not Ignore The Global Debt Crisis". Huffington Post UK. 17 June 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- Carden, Dan (25 March 2020). "The British government has abandoned the Global South to coronavirus". Open Democracy UK.
- @DanCardenMP (1 April 2020). "We must go beyond aid and charity in supporting countries in the Global South" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Rodgers, Sienna (9 April 2020). "Shadow ministers appointed as Starmer completes frontbench". LabourList. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- Johnson, Mark (22 September 2017). "Foodbank support shows 'best of Scousers'". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
External links
- Dan Carden on Facebook
- Dan Carden on Twitter
- Official website
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by Steve Rotheram |
Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton 2017–present |
Incumbent |