Gomez’s Tom Gray beats Eddie Izzard in bid to be Brighton Labour candidate at next general election

17 December, 2023

Tom Gray of Gomez

Gomez guitarist and Chair of the Ivors Academy Tom Gray has beaten Eddie Izzard in the bid to be Brighton Pavilion’s Labour candidate at the next UK general election.

Musician and founder of the #BrokenRecord campaign Gray was selected as candidate today (December 17), and is hoping to become the first Labour MP for the constituency in more than a decade.

He said on X/Twitter that he was “delighted and humbled to be selected”.

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, has announced that she plans to stand down at the next general election, which will take place no later than January 2025.

Izzard placed second, which is the comedian’s second failed attempt to stand as an MP, after she campaigned to be Labour candidate for Sheffield Central last year.

Gray, whose band won the Mercury prize in 1998, thanked “everyone who helped in the campaign”, along with acknowledging fellow candidates Izzard, Lucy Helliwell and Birgit Miller for “showing such solidarity and integrity on the trail”.

Earlier this year Izzard revealed that she had added ‘Suzy’ to her name, but confirmed that she would continue to go by the name ‘Eddie’ in public appearances.

She had previously shared hopes to “fight for Brighton, a place that’s been a beacon of hope and diversity”.

Newly announced Labour candidate Gray was appointed as Chair of the Ivors Academy in February last year.

In a statement, Gray said it was “extraordinary and humbling” to be elected, adding that he “intend[s] to do what is expected of me” as Chair.

He is known for running the Academy’s #FixStreaming initiative, which calls for better streaming revenues for artists.

Radiohead‘s Ed O’Brien previously thanked Gray and others involved in subsequent Economics of Music Streaming inquiry after the government outlined a “complete reset” of the streaming model that “enshrines in law [acts’] rights to a fair share of the earnings”.

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