Kate Osborne


Kate Osborne is a British Labour Party politician, who has served as Member of Parliament for Jarrow since the 2019 general election.

Career

Osborne worked for Royal Mail for 25 years. Her first foray into politics came in 2009, when she contested a by-election for Preston ward on North Tyneside Council, losing out to Conservative David Sarin. The following year, Osborne was elected to represent the ward at the 2010 United Kingdom local elections, gaining the seat from the Conservative incumbent. She was re-elected to represent Preston in 2014, and again in 2018. She resigned from this position in 2020.
She was elected to the House of Commons at the 2019 United Kingdom general election, representing Jarrow, a safe seat for Labour. She succeeded the party's former MP Stephen Hepburn, who had been prevented from standing again over allegations of misconduct. Osborne is a member of Labour's left-wing Socialist Campaign Group.

Personal life

As of 2019, Osborne had lived in North East England for over 30 years. Osborne is known for being an activist and campaigner in the trade union and LGBT+ movements. She is married to Pamela Brooks-Osborne, a former North Tyneside councillor, who represented Whitley Bay ward from 2010 to 2014, and Preston ward from 2015 to 2019. In the latter contest, Brooks-Osborne gained her seat from the same Conservative who her partner had come second to in 2009. The couple served on the council at the same time, including four years in which they both represented the same ward, Preston.
On 16 March 2020, Osborne became the second British Member of Parliament to test positive for Coronavirus disease 2019, after Conservative Nadine Dorries.