| Office: | Member of Parliament for Rochdale |
| Predecessor: | George Galloway |
| Term Start: | 4 July 2024 |
| Majority: | 1,440 (3.5%) |
| Birth Date: | [1] |
| Birth Place: | Wardle, Lancashire, England |
| Party: | Labour Co-op |
| Alma Mater: | University of Oxford University of Cardiff |
Paul Waugh is a British politician and journalist who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochdale since 2024. Running under the Labour and Co-operative Party banner, he unseated George Galloway, the Workers Party of Britain's sole MP.
Waugh was born in Wardle, Lancashire and raised on a council estate in Spotland, Rochdale.[2] Educated at Oulder Hill Community School, he later studied philosophy and physiology at the University of Oxford and journalism at the University of Cardiff.[3]
Waugh has been 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.[4] [5] [6]
Waugh had put himself forward to be the Labour candidate for the 2024 Rochdale by-election but lost the nomination to Azhar Ali, who in turn was suspended from the party.[7] [8] 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.[9] [10] Waugh was critical of its previous MP George Galloway, labelling him as "Putin's parrot" and an extremist.