Cllr Georgia Gould | |
---|---|
Leader of Camden Council | |
Assumed office 17 May 2017 | |
Preceded by | Sarah Hayward |
Member of
Camden Council for Kentish Town South Kentish Town (2010–2022) | |
Assumed office 6 May 2010 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Georgia Anne Rebuck Gould 18 May 1986 Paddington, London, England |
Political party | Labour |
Parents | |
Education | Camden School for Girls |
Alma mater |
St Catherine's College, Oxford London School of Economics |
Website | Official website |
Georgia Anne Rebuck Gould OBE (born May 1986) [1] [2] is a British Labour Party politician, who has served as Leader of Camden Council since 2017. [3] A councillor since 2010, she has chaired the London Councils association since 2020. [4] In May 2024, Gould was selected as Labour's parliamentary candidate for the new seat of Queen's Park and Maida Vale, to be contested at the July 2024 general election. [5]
Gould was born at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, in 1986. [6] [1] She is the daughter of Philip Gould, Baron Gould of Brookwood, an adviser to the Labour Party who was particularly associated with former prime minister Tony Blair and his New Labour project. Lord Gould died in 2011. [7] [8] Her mother is Gail Rebuck, chair of Penguin Random House UK and a Labour peer. Owing to her background, Gould has been labelled a "red princess" by the media. [9] Through her mother, she is Jewish, and Gould is a member of the Jewish Labour Movement. [5] [10] [7]
She grew up in Kentish Town, north west London; [11] Gould and her younger sister, Grace, attended a local semi-comprehensive secondary school, Camden School for Girls. [8] [12] She has spoken of growing up in a "tribal Labour household"; holidays were spent with Alastair Campbell and his wife Fiona Millar, Tessa Jowell, and the family of Tony Blair. [2]
Prior to university, Gould spent a year as a full-time Labour Party organiser. [2] She then studied history and politics at St Catherine's College, Oxford. [13] Whilst at Oxford, she succeeded Blair's son Nicky, a childhood friend, as secretary of the Oxford University Labour Club. [2] Gould holds a master's degree in global politics from the London School of Economics. [14] [15]
Before becoming an elected politician, Gould worked for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation as a digital manager. [16] [2] Politically, she has been described as a centrist. [17] She was selected in 2009, and, aged 24, she became a Labour councillor for Kentish Town on Camden London Borough Council in the 2010 elections. The ward's three seats were gained by Labour from the Liberal Democrats. [16] [8] [18] Gould became the leader of Camden Council in May 2017. [19] Following boundary changes, she has represented Kentish Town South since 2022. [20]
In April 2012, Gould lost out in her attempt to become Labour's parliamentary candidate for Erith and Thamesmead, a safe seat for the party, with Teresa Pearce being selected instead. "I was the victim of a well orchestrated and vicious smear campaign," Gould said. "Every day, I'd wake to articles in the media, and they came from both the Left and the Right, assailing me for being too rich, too young, too inexperienced, but mostly — too well connected." According to Gould, amongst the "lies" were that Blair's former spokesman Alastair Campbell was calling local party members on her behalf, and that she had engaged the services of an expensive public relations company to unfairly bolster her campaign. [21]
Gould authored the book Wasted: How Misunderstanding Young Britain Threatens Our Future, which was published by Little, Brown Book Group in February 2015. [22] Reviewing it in The Observer, Bidisha described the book as "an easy-to-read manifesto that debunks the derogatory tabloid stereotype of useless, narcissistic hoodies, thugs, yobs and chavs." Bidisha wrote that Wasted was "inspiring", whilst noting of Gould that "she is not a natural writer and Wasted has a tendency to sound like a standard, sweeping speech". [23]
In May 2024, prior to the general election in July, Gould was selected as Labour's parliamentary candidate for Queen's Park and Maida Vale, a newly created constituency which borders her borough of Camden. [5]
Gould is an active member of West London Synagogue, a Reform shul. [10] She married Alex Zatman, a civil servant, at the synagogue in September 2021, in a service conducted by Baroness Julia Neuberger. [24] Gould took maternity leave from public office in autumn 2023. [25]
In the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours list, Gould was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to Local Government. [26]