Baby of the House

Baby of the House is the unofficial title given to the youngest member of a parliamentary house. The term is most often applied to members of the British parliament, from which the term originated. The title is named after the Father of the House, which is given to the longest-serving member of the British and other parliaments.

Australia
In Australia the term is rarely used. Most MPs and senators are elected only in their thirties and later, but some prominent MPs have been elected rather early in life, including Prime Ministers Harold Holt, Malcolm Fraser and Paul Keating, the latter two of whom were both elected at age 25, in 1955 and 1969 respectively. The youngest Baby of the House was Wyatt Roy: he was elected at age 20 in 2010, being the youngest person ever to be elected to an Australian parliament.

, the current Baby of the House is the Member for Brisbane Stephen Bates (age 31). Senator Fatima Payman (age 27) is the youngest member of the Senate.

Azerbaijan
in the 2020 Azerbaijani parliamentary election, Sabina Khasayeva was the youngest MP elected, at the age of 27.

Canada
The youngest-ever elected member of the House of Commons of Canada is Pierre-Luc Dusseault, who was elected at the age of 19 years and 11 months in 2011. Dusseault is the youngest MP in Canadian history. In the past this distinction has been held by MPs such as Sean O'Sullivan, Pierre Poilievre, Andrew Scheer, Claude-André Lachance and Lorne Nystrom.

The youngest current MP is Eric Melillo, a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, representing the riding of Kenora, Ontario; born in 1998, elected at 21 years of age. The youngest member of the Senate of Canada is Patrick Brazeau of Repentigny, Quebec; born 1974, appointed at 34 years of age.

List of youngest members of the French Parliament
This is a list of youngest members of the French parliament at the time of their election.

Germany
In Germany the term is rarely used. Emilia Fester was the youngest MP elected in the 2021 federal election at the age of 23.

Emily Vontz became the youngest MP in 2023, at the age of 22.

In 2022, Pascal Leddin became the youngest member of the Landtag of Lower Saxony.

Grenada
Kerryne James was elected in the 2022 Grenadian general election at the age of 24, becoming the country's youngest ever legislator.

Hong Kong
In Hong Kong the term is rarely used. The current baby of the Legislative Council is Joephy Chan, who was elected in the 2021 Legislative Council election.

From 1991 to 2016 the youngest elected member was James To, who ran for the first Legislative Council direct election in 1991 at the age of 28. His record ceased in 2016, when the youngest-ever elected member Nathan Law and the youngest-ever elected female member Yau Wai-ching were both elected in the 2016 election at the ages of 23 and 25 respectively; they were both disqualified over the oath-taking controversy between 2016 and 2017. He was replaced by Ho Kai-ming, who was the fourth-youngest member when he was elected in 2016. He was later replaced by Au Nok-hin, who was elected in the 2018 by-election, but was unseated in 2019. The title went back to Ho, who subsequently resigned in May 2020 for joining the government and was replaced by Cheng Chung-tai, who was the fifth youngest member in 2016, until he himself got disqualified in August 2021. The title eventually returned to Steven Ho who was elected as the youngest member in 2012.

[ (b) – by-election]

Hungary
The youngest-ever elected member of the National Assembly is Ilona Burka, who became MP at the age of 19 years, 5 months and 13 days on 12 May 1971, following the 1971 parliamentary election.

India
[(b) – by-election]

Iran

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Ireland
In the Republic of Ireland the term is rarely used, as TDs normally enter the Dáil after a political career in local government, usually only in their thirties and later. The current baby of the Dáil is the Fianna Fáil deputy James O'Connor (Cork East), who was 22 years and 7 months old when elected in February 2020.

The youngest TD of all time was William J. Murphy, elected age 21 years 29 days; the youngest female TD was Kathleen O'Connor, 21 years 7 months.

Israel
In Israel the term is seldom used. The youngest member of the current Knesset is Yitzhak Wasserlauf of Otzma Yehudit, elected in 2022 aged 30.

The youngest member of the Knesset ever is Moshe Nissim, elected in 1959 aged 24.

Italy
The youngest member of the Chamber of Deputies ever is Enzo Lattuca (PD), elected in 2013, aged 25 years, 1 month, and 6 days.

Malawi
The youngest MP in Malawi was Angela Zachepa, who was voted in as MP at age 21.

Malaysia
In Malaysia, the term is very rarely used. Most MPs are directly elected and Senators are appointed or indirectly elected, usually in their middle age, but a few were elected as an MP at a very young age, including former Prime Minister and former Pekan MP Najib Razak, who was elected at 22 years and 6 months in 1976. The youngest ever elected is Batu MP Prabakaran Parameswaran, who was elected at the age of 22 years and 3 months in 2018. The present Baby of the House is Sungai Petani MP Mohammed Taufiq Johari, who was elected in 2022. Mohammed Taufiq is a month younger than Prabakaran. Any citizen 18 years of age or older can become a candidate and be directly elected to the Dewan Rakyat as an MP and State Legislative Assemblies as an MLA, while any citizen 30 years of age or older can be appointed or indirectly elected to the Dewan Negara as a Senator.

Marshall Islands
In the 2019 general election, Kitlang Kabua became the youngest person ever elected to the Nitijeļā.

New Zealand
The term "Baby of the House" is rarely used in New Zealand. The current Baby of the House is Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of Te Pāti Māori, who was elected on 14 October 2023 aged 21. Maipi-Clarke succeeded Chlöe Swarbrick of the Green Party, who was elected on 24 September 2017 aged 23.

Philippines
In the Congress of the Philippines, the term "Baby of the House" is rarely used; the term "Benjamin" of the chamber is used instead. Special treatment is not given to the youngest member of either chamber. However, by tradition, the youngest member of the chamber usually administers the oath of office to their incoming leader (i.e. President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives).

The minimum age for being a member of the House of Representatives is 25 years old, while for the Senate it is 35, as stipulated in the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. In 1933, Benigno Aquino, Sr. became senator at the age of 33; the Jones Law, which created the Senate, had prescribed the minimum age of 30.

The current Benjamin of the House is Representative Jaime Cojuangco of the 1st District of Tarlac. Meanwhile, Senator Mark Villar has been the youngest Senator since 2022.

Singapore
The current youngest MP in the Singapore Parliament is Nadia Ahmad Samdin, who was elected in 2020 at the age of 30. The youngest MP ever elected in Singapore is Lim Chin Siong, who was elected in the 1955 general election at the age of 22.

South Africa
The current titleholder, since 2017, is Hlomela Bucwa of the Democratic Alliance.

Sweden
The current Baby of the House is Aida Birinxhiku. The youngest person ever to be elected MP to a Swedish parliament is Anton Abele, who was only aged 18 when elected in September 2010. Current record holder for the world's youngest-ever elected MP is Anton Abele, who at 18 years was elected to the Swedish Parliament for his activism against street violence.

Turkey
Rümeysa Kadak (born 16 May 1996) is the youngest MP in the history of Republic of Turkey.

Trinidad and Tobago
Saddam Hosein is the baby of the house of the 12th Republican Parliament.

Uganda
At 19 years old, Proscovia Alengot Oromait was the world's youngest MP and youngest ever MP in Africa when elected in 2011. Oromait is a member of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) in Uganda and was a representative of Usuk County until 2016. She was succeeded as the youngest member of parliament in Uganda by Hellen Auma Wandera.

United Kingdom
Becoming the Baby of the House of Commons is regarded as something of an achievement, despite the lack of any special treatment that comes with the title. However, some MPs who have held the position for a considerable period – Matthew Taylor was the Baby of the House for over ten years – have found it somewhat embarrassing, as it may suggest that they have a lack of experience, although many holders of the title have gone on to enjoy long and distinguished parliamentary careers.

From August 1999 to September 2001, all three of the leaders of the main political parties – Tony Blair, William Hague and Charles Kennedy – had been the youngest MPs in their party when they began their political careers, though only Kennedy had been Baby of the House.

Of those whose ages can be verified, the youngest MP since the Reform Act 1832 is Mhairi Black, elected in 2015 aged 20 years 237 days. The age of candidacy for Parliament was lowered from 21 to 18 by the Electoral Administration Act 2006. William Pitt the Younger was elected at 21 and became Prime Minister two years later in 1783. There were younger MPs in earlier centuries: Christopher Monck was elected as MP for Devon in 1667 aged 13; when his father died three years later and Monck became Duke of Albemarle, he could not then take his seat in the House of Lords until aged 21.

Owen Carron directly replaced Bobby Sands as both MP for Fermanagh South Tyrone and Baby of the House after Sands' death on hunger strike, but neither ever took his seat. George Charles Grey is the only other Baby of the House to die while in post, in World War Two.

List of babies of the House of Commons
In the following table, "(b)" denotes an MP elected at a by-election.

Youngest member of the House of Lords
The title 'Baby of the House' is not used in the House of Lords, though the youngest member is recorded on the House website. , the youngest member of the House is Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (born 15 May 1996), who was created a life peer at the age of 27, becoming the youngest-ever life peer.

The youngest male member of the House is Lord Kempsell (born 8 May 1992), who was likewise created a life peer in July 2023 at the age of 31.

Standing Orders state that "No Lord under the age of one and twenty years shall be permitted to sit in the House". When most members of the Lords were hereditary peers, a peer who had inherited his or her peerage(s) while under age was entitled to take a seat on the day before his or her 21st birthday. In theory, such a hereditary peer could still be elected to sit in the House at that age; in practice, the youngest hereditary peer to have been elected was Lord Freyberg (born 15 December 1970), who was elected in October 1999 at the age of 28.

List of youngest members of the Scottish Parliament
This is a list of youngest members of the Scottish Parliament created in 1999.

List of youngest members of the Senedd
This is a list of youngest members of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), created in 1999. From its creation in 1999 until May 2020, the Senedd was known as the National Assembly for Wales (Welsh: Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru).

United States
While the term is used in the Commonwealth Parliaments, Baby of the House or Senate is not in general contemporary use in the United States, nor does being the youngest member confer special treatment in either house of Congress.

Members of the US Congress tend to be older than parliamentarians elsewhere in the English-speaking world, a main factor being that the minimum ages for members of Congress is written into Article One of the United States Constitution, which forbids those under the age of 25 from serving in the House, and those under the age of 30 from serving in the Senate. Moreover, election to the federal Congress is expensive and requires extensive contacts and recognition across a very wide area. Individuals aiming to serve in the federal legislature generally seek election to the state legislature (state legislatures generally have lower minimum ages for entry) or other state office before seeking to serve in Washington.

In the 118th Congress, which began on 3 January 2023, the youngest member of the United States House of Representatives is Maxwell Frost, who was born on January 17, 1997 and was first elected in 2022.

Currently the youngest US senator is Jon Ossoff, born on February 16, 1987, and first elected to a full term in the Senate in the 2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia.

Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a commonwealth country where the term "baby of the house" isn't used, but young MPs are represented in the Parliament of Zimbabwe.