Lincoln Huizenga

[Richard]

Name: Lincoln Daniel Huizenga 
Born: 1975
Avatar: Steven Fulop
Parents: Rabbi Daniel Huizenga and Avigail Huizenga, Baroness Huizenga of Cardiff
Factions: Primarily Socialist Campaign Group, occasionally Open Labour and Momentum

The Hon. Lincoln Huizenga MP is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Caerphilly since 2001.

Born in London and raised in Cardiff, Huizenga's father, Daniel, was named Rabbi of Cardiff Reform Synagogue in 1980 and served in that role through 1990, before moving on to teach at Leo Baeck College in London. A Rabbi in the Movement for Reform Judaism, Daniel had previously served as an Assistant at the West London Synagogue where he served under Werner van der Zyl. Lincoln's paternal grandparents, Fritz and Sidonie, were both survivors of the Shoah who escaped the concentration camps and fled to the UK, where they were interned at Mooragh Camp on the Isle of Man. His mother, Baroness Huizenga, is a former member of Labour's National Executive Committee, and was named to the Upper House by Gordon Brown in 2010. She has served as Labour’s Lords Spokesperson for International Development since 2015.

A bright student, he was encouraged to apply to independent schools around the age of 11. As such, he was accepted and attended Gordonstoun School in Moray for secondary school through sixth form. At Gordonstoun, he received his A levels in History, Music, and English Literature. He was contemporaries with Peter Phillips, Duncan Jones, and Isabel Oakeshott, the latter of whom he dated for two years. He then proceeded to attend the London School of Economics and received a BA in History. He remained in London and received an MA at King's College before joining the staff of John McDonnell in 1997 as his first parliamentary researcher before returning to Wales as an assistant, and later special advisor, to Rhodri Morgan. With Morgan's tacit support, he was selected as Labour's candidate for Caerphilly in 2001, which he has continued to hold ever since. 

An occasional rebel against the Labour whip and a critic of Tony Blair, he tied for 29th place in Labour's 2010 Shadow Cabinet election with Chris Bryant, and privately vented frustrations that Shawn Woodward, whom he had gotten five more votes than, was appointed as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, while candidates that had placed above both of them, such as Angela Eagle, Tessa Jowell, and Hilary Benn, were relegated to "also attending" positions. He was instead appointed as Shadow Minister of State for Transport, where he shadowed Theresa Villiers. After the 2011 Conference where the party leader was given sole power to choose the Shadow Cabinet, Huizenga, whom many had placed as a likely candidate for ascension to the Shad Cab, was left out in the cold as Miliband promoted figures from the right of the party, including Chuka Umunna, Rachael Reeves, and Liz Kendall. He resigned from his shadow ministerial role and remained a left-wing gadfly.

A member of the Socialist Campaign Group since he entered the Commons, he endorsed Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 and was named Shadow Minister for Care and Older People. He became Shadow Minister for Europe in 2016 when Pat Glass was moved to Education, and later in the year, he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Wales in succession to Paul Flynn, a position he continued to hold under Keir Starmer.

A strong believer that socialism is innately tied with the Jewish belief of tikkun olam, Huizenga is an active member of multiple groups, including the Jewish Socialist Group, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, and Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory.

Huizenga is married to the former Sofia Jenes and they are the parents of David, Victor, and Alona.

(Frontbench service and son of a peer both approved by Blakesley.)

Edited July 28, 2022 by Richard