Tom Rutland

Rutland was born in February 1992.^[3] He was educated at The Skinners' School, an all-boys grammar school in Tunbridge Wells. He read philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Jesus College, Oxford between 2010 and 2013, graduating with an upper second class honours degree.^[4][5] He was Junior Common Room president at Jesus College and subsequently president of Oxford University Student Union from 2013 to 2014.^[6][7]

After university, Rutland worked on Tessa Jowell's unsuccessful 2015 campaign to be chosen as Labour's candidate for Mayor of London and then as a parliamentary researcher for Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, a Labour member of the House of Lords.^[8] From 2015 to 2016, he was an analyst at Deloitte.^[9] He then worked as an executive support officer at Tower Hamlets London Borough Council from 2016 to 2017, and as a public affairs officer at Imperial College London from 2017 to 2019.^[9][10] He has worked as a press officer for the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prospect trade union.^[11] He left Prospect in July 2024, having been elected an MP.^[12]

Rutland was a councillor for Streatham Common and Vale ward on Lambeth London Borough Council from 2022 to 2024.^[13]

In the 2024 general election Rutland was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for East Worthing and Shoreham, with 22,120 votes (45.1%) and a majority of 9,519 over the second-place Conservative candidate.^[14] On 28 October 2024, he made his maiden speech in the House of Commons during a debate on Remembrance and Veterans.^[15]

Rutland was elected as a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on 21 October 2024.^[16]

On 11 May 2026, Rutland resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Emma Reynolds, and called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign.^[17]

Rutland is gay,^[18] and this led to his interest in politics as a teenager.^[15]