Rosena Allin-Khan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rosena Allin-Khan
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Official portrait, 2019
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| Member of Parliament for Tooting |
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| Assumed office 16 June 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Sadiq Khan | ||||||||||||
| Majority | 19,487 (36.8%) | ||||||||||||
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| Member of Wandsworth Council for Bedford |
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| In office 22 May 2014 – 3 May 2018 |
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| Born |
Rosena Chantelle Allin-Khan
10 May 1978 Tooting, London, England |
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| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||
| Residences | Tooting, London, England | ||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Brunel University Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge |
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| Occupation |
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Rosena Chantelle Allin-Khan (born 10 May 1978) is a British politician and medical doctor. She has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting since 2016. As a member of the Labour Party, she was the Shadow Minister for Mental Health from 2020 to 2023. Before that, she was the Shadow Minister for Sport from 2016 to 2020.
In 2020, she ran to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. She came in second place after three rounds of voting.
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Early Life and Education
Rosena Chantelle Allin-Khan was born in Tooting, London. Her parents were both musicians. Her mother was a singer from Poland, and her father was from Pakistan. They met in London. After they had two children, Rosena and her brother, her parents separated. Her mother worked three jobs to support them.
Rosena went to Trinity St Mary's Primary School and then The Grey Coat Hospital. Her first A-level grades were not high enough for her to study medicine right away. Instead, she studied medical biochemistry at Brunel University. She worked part-time jobs to pay for her studies and did very well. Later, she was accepted to study medicine at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, where she received scholarships to help with costs.
Medical Career
After becoming a doctor, Rosena Allin-Khan worked at the Royal London and Homerton Hospitals. She also earned a Master's degree in public health. This led her to work as a humanitarian aid doctor in places like Gaza, Israel, Africa, and Asia.
Before she became an MP, she worked as a junior doctor in the emergency department at St George's Hospital in Tooting. Even now, she still works shifts at St George's Hospital during her breaks from Parliament.
Political Career
Her work in public health also got her involved in local politics. She was elected as a councillor for Bedford Ward in Balham on Wandsworth Council. She served from 2014 to 2018 and was also the deputy leader of the Labour group on the council.
In May 2016, Rosena Allin-Khan was chosen as the Labour Party candidate for the Tooting constituency. The previous MP, Sadiq Khan, had resigned after becoming the Mayor of London.
During her election campaign, she talked about her local, working-class background and her Polish-Pakistani family history. When the election results were announced, she gave a special message about Jo Cox, another Labour MP who had sadly passed away on the same day.
She supported staying in the EU during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Later, she also supported the idea of a second public vote on the issue.
Shadow Minister for Sport
In October 2016, Rosena Allin-Khan became the Shadow Minister for Sport. In this role, she promised to allow "safe standing" areas at football matches if Labour won the next election. She also campaigned for England's semi-final match against Croatia in the 2018 World Cup to be shown on big screens in public places. She noted that the St George's Flag had sometimes been linked with extreme groups, and she was happy that England's success in the World Cup helped make the flag a symbol for everyone.
Allin-Khan kept her seat in the 2017 and 2019 general elections. She received more votes in 2017, making her position stronger, but her votes slightly decreased in 2019.
Deputy Leadership Campaign
Rosena Allin-Khan ran as a candidate in the 2020 Labour Party deputy leadership election. During her campaign, she said she would help unite the party. She also spoke about her working-class background and her experience as a doctor. She received 16.8% of the first votes and 26.1% in the final round, coming in second place after Angela Rayner.
Shadow Minister for Mental Health
She was then appointed as Shadow Minister for Mental Health in Keir Starmer's first shadow cabinet. When the coronavirus pandemic began in the UK, Allin-Khan worked 12-hour shifts at St George's Hospital in Tooting, while also doing her job as an MP and a shadow minister.
She also said that the UK Government was too slow to act at the start of the pandemic. She believed they should have introduced measures like lockdowns and widespread testing sooner.
In October 2020, she faced a challenge regarding the rules for Members of Parliament.
In May 2021, she was given a higher role as a Shadow Secretary of State, which changed to Shadow Cabinet Minister in November 2021.
Allin-Khan stepped down from her role in the Shadow Cabinet of Keir Starmer on 4 September 2023. She disagreed with a colleague's ideas about involving private companies in the National Health Service (NHS). She also felt that the party leader did not see a place for a mental health role in a Labour government.
In the 2024 general election, Allin-Khan was re-elected with an even larger majority of 19,497 votes. She received 55.2% of the total votes, which was the highest number of votes for any Labour MP in the country.
Personal Life
Rosena Allin-Khan is married and lives in Tooting with her husband, who is Welsh. She is a Muslim. They have two daughters.
She is also an amateur boxer and trains at Balham Boxing Club. She also works as the team doctor for the club.
Images for kids
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Allin-Khan speaking at a meeting during her deputy leadership campaign in February 2020
