Layla Moran facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Layla Moran
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Official portrait, 2019
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| Liberal Democrat Spokesman for Foreign Affairs and International Development | |
| Assumed office 31 August 2020 |
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| Leader | Sir Ed Davey |
| Preceded by | Alistair Carmichael (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) Wendy Chamberlain (International Development) |
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Education | |
| In office 17 June 2017 – 31 August 2020 |
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| Leader | Vince Cable Jo Swinson Sir Ed Davey Serving with Sal Brinton (2019–2020) and Mark Pack (2020) |
| Preceded by | Sarah Olney |
| Succeeded by | Daisy Cooper |
| Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon |
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| Assumed office 8 June 2017 |
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| Preceded by | Nicola Blackwood |
| Majority | 8,943 (15.2%) |
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport | |
| In office 21 August 2019 – 6 January 2020 |
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| Leader | Jo Swinson Sir Ed Davey Serving with Sal Brinton (2019–2020) and Mark Pack (2020) |
| Preceded by | The Baroness Bonham-Carter |
| Succeeded by | Daisy Cooper |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Layla Michelle Moran
12 September 1982 London, England |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Relatives | James Moran (father) |
| Education |
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Layla Michelle Moran (/məˈræn/; born 12 September 1982) is a British Liberal Democrat politician serving as the Liberal Democrat Spokesman for Foreign Affairs and International Development since 2020, and serving as the Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon since 2017.
Moran came out as pansexual in 2020 and is believed to be the first UK parliamentarian to do so. She is the first MP of Palestinian descent.
She attended private schools in Brussels, Kingston in Jamaica and Roedean School near Brighton. She studied Physics at Imperial College London and completed her PGCE at Brunel University London. She worked as a maths and physics teacher. Moran unsuccessfully campaigned as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Battersea at the 2010 general election and in the West Central constituency at the 2012 London Assembly election.
She contested Oxford West and Abingdon at the 2015 general election, coming second. She was selected for the seat again at the 2017 general election and was elected to the House of Commons, defeating Conservative MP Nicola Blackwood, with 26,256 votes (43.7%) and a majority of 816.
She served as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the Department for Education under three leaders from 2017 to 2020, and was spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2019 to 2020. After Jo Swinson lost her seat at the 2019 general election, Moran stood to become Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the 2020 leadership election, which she lost to Acting Leader Sir Ed Davey. On 31 August 2020, Davey appointed Moran as the Liberal Democrats' Shadow Foreign Secretary and as International Development Spokesperson the following day.
Early life and career
Layla Michelle Moran was born in Hammersmith, London on 12 September 1982, the elder daughter of diplomat James Moran and Randa Moran, a Christian Palestinian from Jerusalem. Her great-grandfather was the Palestinian writer Wasif Jawhariyyeh, who published extensive memoirs. Moran describes herself as a British Palestinian. On her upbringing, Moran said "My Palestinian background has made me interested at a global level. Politics was always at the dinner table; it primed me to engage." Moran was raised as a cultural Christian and now identifies as a humanist.
Because her father was a diplomat for the European Union and its predecessors, Moran grew up in various countries, including Belgium, Greece, Ethiopia, Jamaica and Jordan. She attended private schools in Brussels, Kingston in Jamaica and Roedean School in Brighton. From 2000 to 2003, she studied physics at Imperial College London, and from 2005 to 2007 completed a PGCE at Brunel University London. From 2007 to 2008, she studied for a master's degree in comparative education at UCL's Institute of Education.
From 2003 to 2012, Moran was a maths and physics teacher at the International School of Brussels, and at two schools in London: Queensmead School and Southbank International School. Between 2009 and 2013 she worked as a part-time course tutor for Oxford Study Courses, a company that helps International Baccalaureate teachers and students, and from 2013 she was full-time academic manager.
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