Avatar: Jim Sturgess
Age: 37 (b. 9th August 1981)
Sex: Male
Ethnicity: White
Marital Status: Gay and in a relationship.
Party: Labour
Primary Tribe: Open Labour
Secondary Tribes: Blue Labour, Socialist Campaign Group
Brexit Position: Remain
Constituency: Wansbeck
Year Elected: 2015
Education:
- St. Cuthbert’s High School, Newcastle (1992-1999).
- BA Law, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge. (1999-2002).
- LLM Law, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge (2002-2003).
- LPC, University of Westminster (2003-2004)
- Personal Injury Lawyer, Thompsons (2004-2006)
- Employments Rights Solicitor, Thompsons (2006-2009).
- Director of Military Claims, Thompsons (2009-2011).
- North East Unit Manager, Thompsons (2011-2014).
- Legal Advisor, UNISON (2014-2015).
- Member of Parliament for Wansbeck (2015-)
- Member of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee (2017-2019).
Liam McMahon was born in Newcastle to Patrick McMahon, an Irish immigrant and carpenter and Patricia McMahon (née Wilson), a housewife, and had a very boring and traditional North East, working class upbringing. He has two older sisters. McMahon was a bright student who – with the help of scholarships and placements – excelled academically. He achieved excellent A Level grades and moved on to attend the University of Cambridge, where he studied law.
Affected by the poverty he saw but managed to escape the worst of in the North East under Thatcherism, and following what was virtually family tradition (his father and grandfather were both Labour Party and union members, though inactive), McMahon joined the Labour Party in 1997 aged 16 (his decision to join was not inspired by the landslide election victory that year).
McMahon did very little with his membership however, not participating in student politics or in youth party political politics and focusing on his studies. He achieved excellent results and had no struggle securing an LPC.
He had his first taste of politics while in the University of Westminster training for his LPC, having strongly disagreed with Tony Blair’s decision to invade Iraq. He set up the organisation ‘Law students against War’, participating in protests against it and making the legal case against the Iraq war. Unlike many others who were in the Labour Party at the time, he did not leave the party around this time (admittedly, it was probably because he often had forgotten he was a Labour member in the first place).
Securing his LPC, he moved back to the North East immediately as he had ‘hated London.’ He worked at Thompsons solicitors, as employment law was something he was most passionate about and it was where his knowledge was most extensive. As Thompsons’ had extensive links to the Labour and Trade Union movement, McMahon became more involved in the Labour Party – becoming Secretary of his local branch before becoming Trade Union Liaison Officer and eventually chair of his CLP in Newcastle Central.
McMahon was an effective solicitor, and racked up promotions quickly. On the defeat of Labour in 2010, he became even more politicised and political activities slowly but surely became his central focus: he took voluntary time to offer legal advice to those particularly affected by austerity and by the Conservatives’ welfare reforms in particular, as well as offering advice to veterans (something he had extensive experience with as he had directed Thompson’ Military Claims). In 2010, he had supported Andy Burnham, who he had met on a few occasions, as Leader of the Labour Party and argued multiple times at his CLP that “there has been a worrying trend of Labour losing its working class voice that neither Labour’s centre nor left have fully grasped.” McMahon left Thompsons’ after a decade long career to work in the Trade Union movement, where he provided legal advice to the Trade Union UNISON. Though it paid less, he found it gave him more time to focus on his voluntary work and to prepare for political office which he now had ambitions for.
Considered a strong orator with strong links to the community through his work and voluntary activities, McMahon won a bitterly contested selection to be selected as Labour’s PPC for Wansbeck. McMahon campaigned hard in the seat, starting from the philosophy ‘there’s no such thing as a safe seat.’
When he was selected McMahon supported Andy Burnham when he ran again in 2015. He was one of the Labour MPs to vote against the welfare bill.
In Parliament he has consistently aligned himself with the left of the Labour Party. Though he has never formally affiliated himself with the Socialist Campaign Group, he had never shown them nor Jeremy Corbyn the hostility after his victory other elements of the PLP had. He had openly stated that he believed Jeremy Corbyn “deserved to have a shot and to be supported”, and openly stated he abstained from the vote of confidence and the successive leadership contest in 2016 stating he “wanted Labour’s psychodrama to end and for us to come together whatever the result so we can seriously discuss the terminal support we’re experiencing across Britain’s working class communities.” He refused to endorse either Jeremy Corbyn or Owen Smith, and got a little press attention when he said he believed neither would win an election.
When Corbyn won the second time, he offered McMahon a Shadow Cabinet position. McMahon refused, stating he wanted to champion his constituents from the backbenches.
Though he campaigned for Remain to “fight against the Tories importing more cuts and deregulation through the backdoor”, McMahon was quick to accept the result but to be a champion of a softer Brexit, as his own constituency had voted to leave. He voted to invoke Article 50, and voted for all compromise positions except to leave with no deal or any position that put remaining in the EU on the table. Initially voting against Theresa May’s deal, he abstained in the second vote and voted for the new deal the third time round. Met with anger from local activists on this decision, McMahon stated he had “no remorse” from his decision and stated he had “taken steps to save Labour from inevitable electoral oblivion.”
McMahon is a member of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, where he has gone viral on occasion in left wing and even once or twice in wider circles for effectively scrutinising unscrupulous employers and tech giants.
McMahon has a small but varied selection of allies in Parliament, being on friendly terms with Lisa Nandy, Caroline Flint and Dennis Skinner, and is known to rarely get involved in intra party disputes. He again got a little press attention when he had told the media he had "avoided PLP meetings completely" as they had become "too toxic and hostile."
He is a ‘long suffering’ fan of Newcastle United, and has played football for the men’s Parliamentary team before. He is an open Star Trek obsessive. He owns a caravan in North Wales, which he visits regularly.
McMahon is gay. While not in the closet, McMahon is fiercely private: he has never come out publicly as a result, though his friends and Parliamentary colleagues know. He is in a relationship with a fellow Thompsons’ lawyer Samuel Davies, and lives with him and his mother after the death of his father. Being a late bloomer, he had only come out in his 30s and had spent most of his 20s in relationships with women.