St Mary’s Alumnus Elected as Member of Parliament

Alumnus of St Mary’s University, Twickenham (SMU), Damien Egan has been elected as the new Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kingswood Constituency.

Damien, who graduated from Drama in 2004, has a long history in politics. He served as a councillor in Lewisham from 2010-2018, and a cabinet member from 2014. He was subsequently the directly elected Mayor of Lewisham from 2018-2024, resigning to contest the by-election.

He had already been selected as a parliamentary candidate for the Bristol North-East constituency at the next general election. He will contest this seat at the next general election, with the Kingswood Constituency due to be dissolved as part of a review of electoral boundaries.

Speaking of Damien’s election, St Mary’s Vice-Chancellor Anthony McClaran said, “Securing election to House of Parliament is a significant achievement and we wish Damien every success at the start of his parliamentary career.”

The Kingswood by-election was triggered by the resignation of the previous MP Chris Skidmore. Whilst serving as Universities Minister in 2018, Chris visited SMU to meet trainee teachers, discuss innovative methods of degree delivery and tour the University’s cutting edge sport science research facilities.