Kevin McKenna (politician) explained

Kevin McKenna
Honorific Suffix:MP
Office:Member of Parliament
for Sittingbourne and Sheppey
Term Start:4 July 2024
Predecessor:Gordon Henderson
Majority:355 (0.9%)
Party:Labour
Education:University of Warwick
King's College London
Birth Date:1974
Birth Place:Erith

Kevin McKenna is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sittingbourne and Sheppey since 2024. He flipped the seat from the Conservative Party.[1]

Early life and career

McKenna was born in Erith and grew up in Welling, in the London Borough of Bexley. He was educated at St Stephen's Catholic Primary School in Welling and Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School.

McKenna studied microbiology at the University of Warwick and later qualified as a registered nurse in the 1990s at the Nightingale Institute at King's College London, a career change he made after exposure to the work of nurses caring for his friends impacted by the AIDS epidemic.[2] He worked in the NHS as a frontline nurse in critical care in a number of London hospitals including University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and later in strategy on nationwide NHS programmes at NHS England. In 2015, McKenna was a Darzi Fellow in clinical leadership.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, McKenna worked as a matron at NHS Nightingale Hospital London.[3]

McKenna was selected to stand in Bexley and Bromley at the 2024 London Assembly election, losing out to the incumbent Conservative Party where he reduced the Conservative majority at the election by over 10,000 votes.[4]

Personal life

McKenna lives in Sittingbourne with his husband.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sittingbourne & Sheppey General Election 2024 . 5 July 2024 . Sky News.
  2. Web site: Church . Edd . 2024-07-31 . Nursing MPs: Kevin McKenna says nurses have been ‘pushed so far’ . 2024-08-13 . Nursing Times . en.
  3. Web site: 2024-07-05 . Who are Kent's 12 new MPs? . 2024-07-05 . Kent Online . en.
  4. Web site: 2 May 2024 . Declaration of Result of Poll . London Elects.
  5. 1810017758454632884 . KMcKLabour . Yesterday I went to Westminster for the first time, to start setting up as your MP . Kevin McKenna MP . 7 July 2024 . 10 July 2024 . en.