Meet the new LabourList columnists – LabourList

LabourList has always been pleased to bring forward voices from across our movement. We bring you the latest news and the greatest comment on all things Labour. We have always platformed people with a range of experiences – be they former Number 10 staffers or people just starting out on their writing careers.

We are delighted to announce our new lineup of columnists who will be writing for us monthly. They come with a range and wealth of experiences, perspectives and Labour politics. Some you will know, some you will enjoy getting to know.

Muddassar Ahmed

Muddassar Ahmed is a British strategic communications and international affairs executive. He is the Managing Partner at Unitas Global Advisory, where he leads a team of over 70 staff worldwide.

Muddassar chairs the East End Citizens Advice Bureau, which supports more than 25,000 people annually. He is also the founder of Kismet Art Café, a community arts space in Whitechapel, London. In addition, he is part of the Founders Circle of the British Asian Trust, a Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund, and serves on an Advisory Board at the Atlantic Council.

He also sits on the boards of the Bradford Literature Festival (the UK’s largest literature festival) and Global Ties U.S. (America’s largest public diplomacy network). Muddassar has been recognised in the Evening Standard’s list of the 1,000 most influential Londoners and is an active member of Labour’s Rose Network.

READ MORE: Labour Party Conference 2025: Full LabourList events programme, revealed

Tom Belger

Tom is a former Editor of LabourList, and an award-winning freelance journalist and communications consultant specialising in politics, policy and social affairs.

He oversaw LabourList’s coverage of the run-up to the general election and Labour’s first year in power, as well as the expansion of its team, events programme and audiences in 2023 and 2024.

He led the team on regular agenda-setting member polling and internal party scoops, in-depth analysis, unrivalled infographic guides to Labour candidates and MPs, on-the-ground election reportage and facilitating robust debate among supporters of all factions and none.

He was previously a social affairs correspondent at the Liverpool Echo, a finance and policy reporter for Yahoo Finance’s UK website and US TV channel, and a senior reporter at the investigative magazine Schools Week.

Ben Cooper

Ben is the research manager and head of the Fabian Housing Centre. He joined the Fabian Society in 2018. Since joining the Fabians, Ben has led research on how Labour can win older, rural and coastal voters, housing, early years and culture. His work has been covered by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky News – and most major newspapers. In 2022, Ben was selected by MHP Group as one of the ’30 to Watch Politics’ award for under-30s.

Ben is also a trustee for a charity supporting people with complex disabilities. He served as a Labour town councillor in Yorkshire, and was the chair of the Co-op Party’s (dis)Ability Network until 2025. He previously worked for a Labour MP.

Deborah Mattinson

Deborah Mattinson is a leading political strategist with a career spanning over three decades at the heart of British politics. In July 2021, she was appointed Director of Strategy to Keir Starmer, playing a pivotal role in Labour’s historic electoral victory three years later.

Her political career began in 1987, working alongside Peter Mandelson and Philip Gould to shape Labour’s communications under Neil Kinnock. She later advised Tony Blair prior to 1997 and went on to become chief pollster to Rt Hon Gordon Brown, first as Chancellor of the Exchequer, then as Prime Minister.

Deborah is widely recognised for her deep insight into public opinion, regularly contributing analysis through media and publications. Her first book, Talking to a Brick Wall (2010), offered a voter’s-eye view of the New Labour years. Her second, Beyond the Red Wall, examined shifting electoral dynamics following the 2019 General Election.

Following her tenure with Keir Starmer, she has advised the US-based Progressive Policy Institute ahead of the 2024 US election and is now working with progressive parties internationally on campaign strategy. In recognition of her contribution to public life and political strategy, Deborah Mattinson was appointed to the House of Lords and took her seat as a life peer in February 2025.

Paul Nowak

Paul Nowak became General Secretary of the TUC in 2023 – after more than 30 years as an active trade unionist and campaigner.

He first became a union member when he worked part-time at Asda aged 17 and has done a variety of jobs, including as a call centre worker and night porter.

Before becoming a trade union official, Paul had always been employed on temporary and agency contracts, so he understands the insecurity of never having a permanent contract.    

In 2000, Paul joined the TUC’s staff, later becoming Regional Secretary for the north of England and subsequently Head of Organising, reporting to the General Secretary. In 2013 he was appointed TUC Assistant General Secretary, and in 2016 Deputy General Secretary.  

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Paul led union efforts to improve the government’s safe working guidance with significant success, ensuring millions of workers had a safer environment to work in. He supported Frances O’Grady in securing furlough and led efforts to secure support for the cultural industries, aviation and transport.   

Paul is married to Vicky. They have three grown-up children and live on the Wirral, in Merseyside. Paul is of mixed heritage and is the grandson of immigrants: his grandfathers came to the UK during the Second World War from Poland and China, respectively, before settling and raising families in Liverpool. 

He is a lifelong Everton fan, and in his spare time can either be found spending time with family, playing the guitar with friends, or exploring Britain’s canals.

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Stella Tsantekidou

Stella is a political commentator and campaigner focusing on government service reform and healthy political dialogue.  She’s best known for talking to right-wingers (someone has to) and for loving the British more than they love themselves (again, someone has to). She worked in Parliament and the non-profit sector, and was a field organiser in the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign, before pivoting into media and independent campaigns.

She writes the Human Carbohydrate, a world politics Substack bestseller. She believes the Labour party is a family: we can’t replace our parents, but we wouldn’t be here without them. Even when the party annoys you, you still need it, so don’t embarrass us in public. Stella knows that, as an immigrant woman, she would not have been given space to comment on British politics were it not for the Labour movement.

While nobody who has watched her rhetorical fist fights on TV panels doubts her willingness to be confrontational, pluralism is her most treasured political value. She views all non-Labour voters as prodigal sons who should be eased back into family life, not pushed further into exile.

New Labour, Blue Labour, Soft Left and Socialist Labour-  Stella’s just proud to be Labour.

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