Charlotte Louise Nichols[1] (born 5 April 1991)[2] is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Warrington North since the 2019 general election.
Charlotte Nichols | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities | |
| In office 12 November 2020 – 14 September 2021 | |
| Leader | Keir Starmer |
| Preceded by | Janet Daby |
| Succeeded by | Taiwo Owatemi |
| Member of Parliament for Warrington North | |
| Assumed office 12 December 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Helen Jones |
| Majority | 1,509 (3.2%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 April 1991 Romford, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | University of Liverpool |
| Website | charlottenicholsmp |
Early life and education
Nichols was born in Romford, Greater London, and grew up in Reading. She has three sisters and three step-siblings. Her father Ged Nichols is from Kirkby, Merseyside and is the General Secretary of the financial services trade union Accord. He was appointed as the president of the TUC in 2020. Her mother is from East London.[3]
Nichols became interested in politics at a young age: she said in an interview that she was obsessed with Speaker of the House of Commons Betty Boothroyd, and the Speaker's shouts of "Order".[4]
As a teenager, Nichols had one of her earliest experiences of politics when she helped run after-school UK Youth Parliament activities with future Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May.[5]
Nichols studied politics at the University of Liverpool, graduating in 2013.[6]
Nichols was a women's officer for Young Labour.[7]
Non-political career
After graduation, Nichols worked in Salford for five years for the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, supporting logistics workers from Warrington employed at Hermes (now Evri), Yodel and XPO Logistics with pay and conditions negotiations.[8]
Nichols then went on to work for the GMB trade union as a national research and policy officer,[9] where she campaigned for better term and conditions for Amazon and Asda workers.[10]
While working for GMB, Nichols made the case for Government to invest in low-carbon nuclear technology.[11]
Political career
Nichols supported Jeremy Corbyn in both the 2015 and the 2016 Labour Party leadership elections.[12]
Nichols stood as the Labour Party candidate for Warrington North at the 2019 general election. She was elected with a majority of 1,509 votes and 44.2% of the vote.[13][14]
In the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn, Nichols served as the PPS to Tracy Brabin as Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for a brief period, before being moved in the Shadow Cabinet of Sir Keir Starmer to being PPS to Emily Thornberry as Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade.[15]
Nichols supported Rebecca Long-Bailey in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, but nominated Emily Thornberry to broaden the field of candidates.[16][17]
When Ruth Jones was promoted to Shadow Air Qualities Minister, Nichols replaced her as PPS to Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Louise Haigh.[18]
On 12 November 2020, Nichols was appointed Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.[19] She stepped down from this role in September 2021, coinciding with the resignation of the Shadow Secretary of State Marsha de Cordova, citing personal reasons.[20]
In April 2021, Nichols apologised to the Traveller communities after she distributed a local election leaflet which pledged to deal with "Traveller incursions".[21] The leaflet had been circulated in the Orford ward of her constituency during the 2021 local elections, in response to encampments on the nearby Poole Park. Nichols apologised and issued a statement, saying: “I have spoken to the local Labour party, the leaflet has been withdrawn and the leaflet will be destroyed. I regret that this leaflet has been distributed in the town. The leaflet is not in line with my personal values or those of the Labour party." Nichols pledged to be "an ally" to the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community.[22]
Controversies
Prior to the general election of December 2019, Nichols used an article on the website LabourList to defend Corbyn's attendance at a Seder to celebrate the Jewish festival of Pesach, organised by the far-left Jewish diaspora group Jewdas.[23] The event was later criticised in article which appeared in The Times, after allegations emerged that attendees had engaged in chants of "fuck the police" and "fuck the armies".[24]
In October 2019, Nichols tweeted that a group of S.S. Lazio fans who had been filmed making Nazi salutes in Glasgow should "get their heads kicked in". Nichols defended her comments in December that year: "These were people doing Nazi salutes on the streets of Britain... As a Jewish person whose grandfather fought in World War Two, ultimately sometimes I believe that fascism has to be physically confronted".[25][26]
An article published in The Daily Telegraph in 2019 reported that Nichols had described members of the Green Party as "bourgeois scab fucks" and told one Twitter user, "Hope you lose your virginity".[27]
Personal life
Nichols grew up in a mostly secular Catholic family with some Irish heritage. At the age of 22, Nichols started attending weekly services at the Manchester Reform Synagogue; after attending the services, she claimed to have felt more peace than she ever had growing up.[28] She converted to Judaism in 2014 and celebrated her bat mitzvah on her 27th birthday.[29]
Since converting to Judaism, Nichols has faced ongoing abuse for her beliefs, including anti-Semitism from a Conservative Party council candidate for the 2021 Warrington Borough Council election. The candidate sent a message via Twitter to Nichols saying "Keep the Aryan race going".[30]
In 2021, it was reported that Nichols has post-traumatic stress disorder, having been forced to cut a parliamentary visit to Gibraltar short following a "mental health episode".[31]
In 2022, Nichols opened up about her struggles with abusive messages and threats of violence she has faced, after a BBC investigation found that she was in the top 5 backbench MPs for receiving abusive and toxic tweets on Twitter.[32][33]
In a 2021 interview, Nichols stated that she identifies as bisexual.[34]