Georgia Gould (politician)

Georgia Anne Rebuck Gould (born 18 May 1986)  is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Queen's Park and Maida Vale since the 2024 general election. Following the election, Gould was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office.

Gould served as Leader of Camden Council from 2017 until 2024. A councillor since from 2010 to 2024, she chaired the London Councils association from 2020 until 2024.

Early life
Gould was born at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, in 1986. She is the daughter of Philip Gould, Baron Gould of Brookwood, an adviser to the Labour Party who was particularly associated with former prime minister Tony Blair and his New Labour project. Lord Gould died in 2011. Her mother is Gail Rebuck, chair of Penguin Random House UK and a Labour peer. Owing to her background, Gould has been labelled a "red princess" by the media. Through her mother, she is Jewish, and is a member of the Jewish Labour Movement. As a baby, Gould was featured on the cover of Private Eye being held by Leader of the Opposition Neil Kinnock in the run up to the 1987 general election.

She grew up in Kentish Town, north west London; Gould and her younger sister, Grace, attended a local comprehensive secondary school, Camden School for Girls. She has spoken of growing up in a "tribal Labour household"; holidays were spent with Alastair Campbell and his wife Fiona Millar, Tessa Jowell, and the family of Tony Blair.

Prior to university, Gould spent a year as a full-time Labour Party organiser. She then studied history and politics at St Catherine's College, Oxford. Whilst at Oxford, she succeeded Blair's son Nicky, a childhood friend, as secretary of the Oxford University Labour Club. Gould holds a master's degree in global politics from the London School of Economics.

Camden Council
Before becoming an elected politician, Gould worked for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation as a digital manager. Politically, she has been described as a centrist. She was selected as a Labour candidate for Kentish Town on Camden London Borough Council in 2009, and, aged 24, she became a Labour councillor at the 2010 elections. The ward's three seats were gained by Labour from the Liberal Democrats. Gould became the leader of Camden Council in May 2017. In December 2019, under Gould's leadership, a FOI request revealed that Veolia, a Camden Council contractor for waste removal have never met their cleanliness targets; yet for the two previous years, the firm was only fined 0.5% from their £11.6 million payment for street cleaning. Following boundary changes, she has represented Kentish Town South since 2022. Gould resigned as a Camden councillor, and Leader of Camden Council, on 11 July 2024 a week after becoming an MP.

Author
Gould authored the book Wasted: How Misunderstanding Young Britain Threatens Our Future, which was published by Little, Brown Book Group in February 2015. Reviewing it in The Observer, Bidisha described the book as "an easy-to-read manifesto that debunks the derogatory tabloid stereotype of useless, narcissistic hoodies, thugs, yobs and chavs." Bidisha wrote that Wasted was "inspiring", whilst noting of Gould that "she is not a natural writer and Wasted has a tendency to sound like a standard, sweeping speech".

Member of Parliament
In April 2012, Gould lost out in her attempt to become Labour's parliamentary candidate for Erith and Thamesmead, a safe seat for the party, with Teresa Pearce being selected instead. "I was the victim of a well orchestrated and vicious smear campaign," Gould said. "Every day, I'd wake to articles in the media, and they came from both the Left and the Right, assailing me for being too rich, too young, too inexperienced, but mostly — too well connected." According to Gould, amongst the "lies" were that Blair's former spokesman Alastair Campbell was calling local party members on her behalf, and that she had engaged the services of an expensive public relations company to unfairly bolster her campaign.

In May 2024, prior to the general election on 4 July, Gould was selected as Labour's parliamentary candidate for Queen's Park and Maida Vale, a newly created constituency which borders her borough of Camden. She won the seat with 52.5% of the votes cast, and a majority of 14,913 (38.9%) over her nearest rival.

Following her election to Parliament, Gould was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office.

Personal life
Gould is an active member of West London Synagogue, a Reform synagogue. She married Alex Zatman, a civil servant, at the synagogue in September 2021, in a service conducted by Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger. Gould took maternity leave from public office in autumn 2023.

Honours
In the 2024 King's Birthday Honours list, Gould was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to Local Government.