Alexander Redd

Alexander Redd, 2019

**Alexander Perceus Redd** (born 10th October 1986) is a British politician serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party since 2019. He was also Leader of the Opposition throughout part of 2019 and is the current Member of Parliament (MP) for Poplar & Limehouse since 2015. He has been described as adhering to the ideology of democratic socialism and is the first Muslim Prime Minister and the youngest Prime Minister to take office since William Pitt the Younger.

Born in Tower Hamlets, London to a working class family, Redd studied in a local state comprehensive school before achieving the grades needed to study jurisprudence at Oxford University. Upon graduating, Redd entered the legal profession as an attorney before being elected as a councillor for his local borough in 2010. Noted for his oratory and political ability, being one of the loudest opponents of Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman, Redd was chosen to be Labour's new candidate for Poplar & Limehouse in 2015 following the retirement of Jim Fitzpatrick. Redd won the seat with an increased majority.

Following Labour's loss in the 2015 election, Redd became one of Labour's more prominant Leave campaigners in the 2016 EU referendum. In 2019, when Jeremy Corbyn resigned among mounting accusations, Alexander Redd stood for the leadership and, despite being 33 at the time - making him Labour's youngest leader and their youngest Prime Minister to date - won the election uncontested, becoming the second Socialist Campaign Group leader in a row and succeeding Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition.

Redd led Labour to their first victory in 14 years in the 2019 United Kingdom general election, where Labour won their joint largest seat count since 2001 and the largest vote share of any party since Labour's landslide victory in 1966 and was appointed Prime Minister. His first period as Prime Minister saw negotiations restart with the European Union, renationalisation of areas like healthcare and transport and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw Redd's Government implement nationwide restrictions to limit the spread of the virus.

A potentially polarising character in UK politics. Supporters praise him for his fresh outlook and policies, and ability to keep Labour together, as well as having an affinity with young and minority voters, while also being the first left-wing politician to win a general election outright since Harold Wilson in the 1960s; whereas opponents may see him as too radical, unappealing to Middle England and too inexperienced. Political commentators have described his political style as dynammic, down-to-earth or populist.

## Early Life

### Childhood

Alexander Perceus Redd was born in Tower Hamlets, in the East End of Greater London to his East Pakistani (now Bangladesh) father, Khalid Rahman (changed to Redd among his entrance to the United Kingdom) and his Spanish mother, Maria Rosa Lopez Perez on the 10th October 1986 as the eldest of two brothers.

Growing up, his family bore the brunt of many of the anti-welfare policies of the Thatcher and subsequent Major governments due to their low income and societal status as immigrants. Many of these experiences would go on to shape Redd's way of thinking and belief system as he grew up. As young as 10, Redd declared to his mother and father "I will be Prime Minister".

### Education

Redd spent his time in education in the comprehensive state school system in Tower Hamlets. Despite being enrolled in schools that, at the time, had below average funding, Redd did well in school.

While in secondary education, Redd excelled especially in History, English, Mathematics and Religious Studies. Alongside this, Redd became involved in extracurricular activities relating to both politics and debates. He would eventually join the Labour Party and become Head Boy of his school and stayed in it's Sixth Form where he achieved high grades for his A-Levels in History, Government & Politics and Economics before being accepted into Oxford University.

Redd studied jurisprudence, or law, in Oxford, excelling in many different modules of the subject. By this time, Redd was already politically active and helped to lead student protests against the Iraq War, eventually joining the Socialist Campaign Group soon after. His tutor remarked of Redd as "someone who is very stubborn, but also incredibly gifted and intelligent. A man who everyone would want as a friend, but never as an enemy". He graduated with "an outstanding first class Bachelor of Arts degree" and soon after left Oxford to pursue a career in law.

### Marriage

While in University, Redd met one of the very few black students in the University, a woman by the name of Jane Rose who was studying Psychology. The two became very close friends early on and would soon become a couple in University.

Soon after University, Redd would marry Rose and still remain married to this day. They have three children together, an eldest daughter and two younger sons.

## Early Career

### Legal Career (2008 - 2015)

Soon after graduating, Redd returned to London as an attorney. Although very young, he was noted to be exceptionally gifted with composing evidence and presenting even the most complicated arguments in a simple, clear and understandable way. Redd would later remark that "being a lawyer is similar to being a Socialist. Millions of complex thoughts and evidence to sort through that you have to summarise in a simple way". Redd also was a large supporter of the reforms to the British legal system that introduced the British Supreme Court, although still argued that there was still many things that still needed improvement.

As an attorney who operated in an impoverished part of the city, Redd would often work pro bono for many clients that required legal representation but could not afford the legal fees. Redd remarked that "our legal system is designed in a way to put a price on innocence and create a culture of guilty until proven innocent. The least I can do is to try and help those around me fight against the injustice in justice".

### Councillor (2010 - 2015)

Despite Labour's humiliating loss of the Mayoral position of Tower Hamlets, Alexander Redd's election as a councillor was treated as a breath of fresh air in what was becoming an ever polarising council. In his first speech as councillor, Redd stated that although a junior councillor, he would make it his work to fight against the corruption and whistle-blowing plaguing his borough. On Lutfur Rahman and George Galloway, Redd stated:

> Lutfur Rahman is nothing more than a corrupt opportunist who sees political power not as a means to an end, but an end in it of itself. Galloway, on the other hand, is perhaps worse. He is a man that will never fix the hatred towards people like me, but instead use that hatred to direct anger towards his political opponents. With the amount of whistle-blowing he does, he should leave politics and become a trainer for dogs!
>
>

His opposition to Rahman would be just one of the examples of Redd making a name for himself as a powerful orator and politician despite his young age.

While as councillor, Redd pushed for reforms and policies in housing and education, while also creating an anti-corruption image against Rahman. A year into his time as councillor, the Member of Parliament for Poplar & Limehouse, Jim Fitzpatrick, decided to spend more time in helping Redd push for many of the council policies that he was campaigning for. While on different parts of the political spectrum, Fitzpatrick being in the soft-left of the Labour Party, the two worked well together, with many political commentators remarking that this was the start of the unique ability of Redd to compromise with the moderate wing of his party, despite his position on the hard-left of the party.

Following Lutfur Rahman's second election win in 2014, Redd would work with prosecutors at the time to compile evidence against Rahman, leading to Rahman being found guilty of corruption and possible election fraud, leading to his re-election being declared void and a new election being set in 2015 which Labour would win.

Soon after the 2014 Tower Hamlets council elections, Jim Fitzpatrick announced that he would retire from his position as Member of Parliament in the 2015 general election.