Labour MP Keir Mather has become the youngest government minister since William Gladstone 191 years ago.

Mather, who is 27 and gay, became the UK’s youngest MP after winning the in Selby and Ainsty (now just Selby) by-election in North Yorkshire in 2023, overturning a huge Conservative majority. He held on to the seat in last year’s general election, taking 46.3 per cent of the vote to the Tories’ 25.6 per cent.

And on Monday (8 September), as part of prime minister Keir Starmer’s reshuffle, he became parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Transport. Gladstone first became a minister in 1834, at the age of 25, going on to be prime minister for 12 years, spread over four non-consecutive terms – the most of any PM.

Mather, who was previously an assistant government w

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