Chris Matheson (politician)

Matheson was selected as the Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for the City of Chester in June 2013.[6] After 7 May 2015 he gained the seat from Conservative Stephen Mosley with a majority of 93 votes, having the 3rd smallest majority of a parliamentary constituency in the UK after the 2015 general election.[7] In July 2015 he became a member of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.[3]

In the 2015 Labour Party (UK) leadership election Chris Matheson nominated Andy Burnham to be leader of the Labour Party.[8]

On 27 June 2016, Matheson resigned from his role as Justice Parliamentary Private Secretary, joining many members of Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet team who resigned following the result of the EU referendum result.[9] He went on to nominate Owen Smith for the leadership in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election.[10][11] He rejoined the shadow cabinet team following the result and joined the shadow cabinet housing team as Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Healey.[12]

At the 2017 election, Matheson increased his majority from 93 to 9,176, turning Chester from a super-marginal seat into a safe seat.[13] With both the Conservative Party and Labour receiving reduced shares of the vote in the 2019 election, Matheson held onto his seat for a second successive election, by a majority of 6,164.[14]

Matheson is a vocal supporter of the People's Vote campaign.[15] Writing in The Guardian, Matheson has called Brexit a "hard rightwing coup." Warning of Brexit extremist plans "to tie the UK to Trump’s US," Matheson has called for the defence of the "values of fairness, decency and internationalism."[16]