Andrew John Gwynne (born 4 June 1974) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Gorton and Denton, previously Denton and Reddish, since 2005. He was Shadow Minister for Social Care from 2023 to the 2024 election. He is currently serving as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention. Gwynne served in the shadow cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn as Shadow Minister without Portfolio from 2016 to 2017. He was Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Labour Party Co-National Campaign Coordinator from 2017 to 2020. In 2023, he became the President of Friends of Real Lancashire - which is a group dedicated to promoting and preserving the heritage and identity of the historic county of Lancashire - following the death of that group's founder. He is the son of the late broadcaster and pundit John Gwynne.

Early life and education

Andrew Gwynne was born on 4 June 1974 in Manchester. He was educated at Egerton Park Community High School (now called Denton Community College) in Denton, Tameside College of Technology in Ashton-under-Lyne, North East Wales Institute of Higher Education in Wrexham from 1992 to 1995 and the University of Salford from 1995 to 1998, earning a BA in Politics and Contemporary History.

Political career

At the age of 21, Gwynne became England's youngest councillor when on 2 May 1996 he was elected to Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, representing the Denton West Ward for the Labour Party. He was re-elected in 2000 and 2004 when he topped the poll in an "all out" election resulting from boundary changes in the borough. From 1998 to 2001 he chaired the Denton and Audenshaw District Assembly, and during 2003–04 he chaired the Resources and Community Services Scrutiny Panel.

Parliamentary career

1st term (2005–2010)

At the 2005 general election, Gwynne was elected to Parliament as Labour MP for Denton and Reddish with 57.4% of the vote and a majority of 13,498. He was appointed to the House of Commons Procedure Committee in June 2005 and, on 10 November 2005, was promoted to become a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Patricia Scotland, as Minister of State for Criminal Justice and Offender Management at the Home Office. Between July 2007 and June 2009, he served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP. In June 2009, he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, then Ed Balls.

2nd term (2010–2015)

At the 2010 general election, Gwynne was re-elected as MP for Denton and Reddish with a decreased vote share of 51% and a decreased majority of 9,831. In October 2010 Gwynne became a Shadow Transport Minister with responsibility for passenger transport. In the Opposition front bench reshuffle of October 2011 he was appointed to the Shadow Health team by Ed Miliband.

3rd term (2015–2017)

At the 2015 general election, Gwynne was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 50.8% and an increased majority of 10,511. Gwynne took a leading role in November 2015 in organising Labour in the Oldham West and Royton by-election, which took place as a result of the death of Michael Meacher. Gwynne said he hoped that "I can do the memory of Michael Meacher proud by helping to return a Labour MP for the seat". The Labour candidate Jim McMahon held the seat with a 10,000-plus majority and increased the party's share of the vote. Gwynne is involved in the campaign for justice for the victims and families of the tainted blood scandal, reaffirming his commitment to the cause on World AIDS Day on 2 December 2016. Also in December 2016, Gwynne was invited to give a keynote speech on ways to tackle vulture funds and the damage they cause to developing nations at the 135th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva. In January 2017 Gwynne was appointed to lead Labour's campaign for the Copeland by-election following the resignation of Jamie Reed. Gwynne focused the campaign on Conservatives plans to cut services at West Cumberland Hospital and to move some hospital facilities, including maternity services, to Carlisle, 80 miles away. In February 2017 Gwynne was appointed as the Labour Party's Co-National Campaign Coordinator while retaining some of his Cabinet Office duties and his role as a spokesperson. He shared this post with Ian Lavery. During the 2017 general election campaign Gwynne clashed with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Sky News, calling Johnson a "pillock" in a debate over Brexit policy.

4th term (2017–2019)

At the snap 2017 general election, Gwynne was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 63.5% and an increased majority of 14,077. Following the election, Gwynne retained his role as the Labour Party's Co-National Campaign Coordinator, and was promoted to become Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, replacing Grahame Morris. In April 2018 Gwynne was named as a member of a Facebook group where individuals had shared anti-Semitic material. When a reporter confronted him about the group he stated that he had been added to it without his permission.

5th term (2019–2024)

At the 2019 general election, Gwynne was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 50.1% and a decreased majority of 6,175. In April 2020, one day after Keir Starmer was elected as the new Labour leader, Gwynne resigned from his position as Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary. In the November 2021 British shadow cabinet reshuffle he returned to his former role as Shadow Minister for Public Health. In the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Social Care.

6th term (2024-)

Due to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Gwynne's constituency of Denton and Reddish was abolished, and replaced with Gorton and Denton. At the 2024 general election, Gwynne was elected to Parliament as MP for Gorton and Denton with 50.8% of the vote and a majority of 13,413. After the election, Gwynne was named as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention in the Department of Health and Social Care.

Personal life

He is the son of sports commentator and reporter John Gwynne. He married Allison Dennis in March 2003 in Tameside, and they have two sons and a daughter. Allison Gwynne serves as a councillor for Denton North East Ward of Tameside Council. Gwynne has talked about experiencing depression at points during his political life, as well as suffering a pulmonary embolism. In July 2020 it was revealed that he had COVID-19 for 16 weeks, a state called "long COVID".