Paul Waugh

Paul Waugh is a British Labour and Co-operative Party politician and journalist who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochdale since 2024.

Waugh was political editor of HuffPost UK, editor of PoliticsHome and deputy political editor of The Independent, as well as the London Evening Standard. He also worked for the i newspaper and presented the Week in Westminster for the BBC. He had put himself forward to be the Labour candidate for the 2024 by-election, which he lost the nomination to Azhar Ali, who in turn was suspended from the party.

Waugh's wife works for the National Health Service, and he has said potential improvement of the health system was one of the major motivating factors in running for parliament. In the 2024 general election, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Rochdale. Waugh was critical of its previous MP George Galloway, labelling him as 'Putin's parrot' and an extremist.