Nick Thomas-Symonds

Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds (born 26 May 1980) is a British academic, barrister and politician who has been Shadow Minister without Portfolio since 2023.

He then studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, between 1998 and 2001, where he gained a first.

He was later a lecturer in politics at the college, teaching British Politics and Government since 2000; Modern British Government and Politics; Government and Politics of Europe; and Government and Politics of the United States.

Thomas-Symonds taught for other Oxford colleges, including Harris Manchester College.

He also taught US Politics on the Oxford Department of Continuing Education's "Foundations of Diplomacy" course.

Thomas-Symonds was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn in October 2004 and developed a practice specialising in chancery and commercial law.

Thomas-Symonds was appointed a tutor at St Edmund Hall, Oxford at the age of 21.

Between 2008 and 2009, he was the politics tutor of former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2012.

Thomas-Symonds has published two political biographies: Nye: The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan and Attlee: A Life in Politics.

On 1 September 2022, Thomas-Symonds published his third political biography, Harold Wilson: the Winner.

A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Torfaen since 2015.

Thomas-Symonds was selected as prospective Labour parliamentary candidate for his home seat of Torfaen on 7 March 2015 and subsequently won the seat in the general election on 7 May 2015.

He made his maiden speech on 28 May 2015.

After a brief stint on the Justice Select Committee, he was appointed Shadow Pensions Minister on 17 September 2015 before being promoted to Shadow Employment Minister on 11 January 2016.

Thomas-Symonds was drawn in the ballot for a Private Members' Bill on 4 June 2015, and introduced the Off-Patent Drugs Bill.

This ran out of time at Second Reading on 6 November 2015, but substantial parts of the Bill were later incorporated into the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill on 29 January 2016.

As a result of promises secured by Thomas-Symonds, the British National Formulary has started to include off-label drugs in its new indication where there is sufficient evidence.

On 8 December 2015, Nick Thomas-Symonds was chosen as 'Member to Watch' at the Welsh Politician of the Year Awards.

He resigned the role of Shadow Employment Minister on 27 June 2016, later supporting Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.

Thomas-Symonds accepted the position of Shadow Solicitor General on 11 October 2016, and on 3 July 2017 he was appointed as Shadow Security Minister within the Shadow Home Affairs Team.

In his role as Shadow Solicitor General, Thomas-Symonds faced the Attorney General and Solicitor General in the House of Commons throughout the Brexit crisis, in place of the then Shadow Attorney General, Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, who sat in the House of Lords.

Thomas-Symonds raised the issue of low prosecution rates for rape case during his time in the role.

During the Brexit debate, Thomas-Symonds regularly clashed with the then Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox, across the despatch box.

Upon becoming Shadow Security Minister in July 2017, Thomas-Symonds said cybersecurity was one of his top priorities.

Thomas-Symonds successfully convinced the Government to accept amendments to the Counterterrorism and Border Security Bill that nullified the risk the bill posed to removing the right to private legal advice.

He has served as Chair of four All-Party Parliamentary Groups: Off-Patent Drugs; Industrial Heritage; Legal & Constitutional Affairs; and Archives & History.

In a debate on 3 December 2018, after The Sunday Times newspaper reported leaked excerpts of a recent letter sent by the Attorney General to Cabinet Ministers detailing legal advice on Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal, Thomas-Symonds accused Cox of hiding his full legal advice on May's Brexit deal “for fear of the political consequences", stating that the government was "playing for time, hoping that the contempt proceedings take longer than the timetable for the meaningful vote". Thomas-Symonds made an application to the Speaker for Parliament to consider holding the Government in contempt of Parliament. The next day, 4 December, the Government was found in contempt of Parliament.

On 24 September 2019, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled unanimously that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's prorogation of parliament was unlawful overturning the High Court's judgment, given by the Lord Chief Justice, in the government's favour.

On the same day, leaked minutes of a conference call between cabinet ministers, including Cox, which took place after the prorogation had been approved by the Queen, detailed that Cox briefly told the cabinet at that time that in his view the prorogation was lawful and constitutional and that any accusations of unlawfulness "were motivated by political considerations".

On 25 September 2019, Thomas-Symonds, facing Cox in the House of Commons, said that the Government "stands in shame" given what was "the most damning judicial indictment of a Government in modern times".

Separately, Thomas-Symonds promoted reform of the structure of Bar professional training courses, to open up the profession to people from a range of backgrounds, arguing that in their current form a disproportionate number of places were being offered on courses when compared with the total opportunities for pupillage.

Thomas-Symonds served as Shadow Home Secretary from 2020 to 2021, and held several junior shadow portfolios from 2015 to 2020.

Prior to his election to Parliament, he was a chancery and commercial barrister at Civitas Law.

He is also the author of books on Clement Attlee, Nye Bevan and Harold Wilson.

Thomas-Symonds was born in Panteg Hospital, Griffithstown, Torfaen, and was brought up in Blaenavon.

His father was a steelworker and industrial chemist, and his mother was a secretary.

He attended St Felix R.C. Primary School, Blaenavon, and St Alban's R.C. High School, Pontypool.

In April 2020, Thomas-Symonds was appointed as Shadow Home Secretary by Sir Keir Starmer, succeeding Diane Abbott.

Amongst his first acts in post, Thomas-Symonds called on the Home Secretary, Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, to provide additional funding for organisations tackling domestic abuse.