Navendu Mishra has been Labour MP for Stockport since December 2019. He was re-elected in 2024 with 21,787 votes (49.9 percent) and a majority of 15,270. He is 36 years old. He was educated at Clifton College in Bristol, one of England's most expensive independent schools, before studying at the University of Hull and Keele University. He then worked as a shop floor trade unionist in Stockport and became an organiser for UNISON. A private school education followed by a career in trade union organising is not a common sequence. Both facts are true. Both matter.

Born Navendu Prabhat Mishra on 22 August 1989 to Indian parents. Before entering Parliament he served on Labour's National Executive Committee from 2018 to 2019 as one of nine Constituency Labour Party representatives. That is a significant party role for someone who was 29 at the time. He endorsed Rebecca Long-Bailey in the 2020 leadership election and was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group until he left in May 2024. Leaving the SCG while remaining on the Labour left suggests a political repositioning ahead of Labour's return to government.

He was appointed PPS to Angela Rayner in January 2020, first as Shadow Education Secretary and then as Deputy Leader. He resigned the PPS role on 15 October 2020 to vote against the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill, which would have given legal authority to undercover agents and informants to commit criminal offences. Choosing the vote over the job at 31 demonstrated independence early in his career.

In the current Parliament he has 7 rebellions across more than 400 divisions. Multiple rebellions came on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill in July 2025, where he was one of 49 Labour MPs voting against the government on welfare reform. He is a member of GMB and USDAW trade unions and Vice Chair of the Fire Brigades Union Parliamentary Group. He served on the International Development Committee and as an Opposition Whip from January 2022 to September 2023. He currently sits on the Administration Committee.

In November 2024 it emerged that Mishra had tabled 14 written parliamentary questions on UK-India relations since September 2023 without declaring relevant financial interests from Indian organisations in those questions. His registered interests included a £4,929 sponsorship from the High Commission of India for a reception at the Labour Party conference in October 2023 and a sponsored trip to India valued at £11,304 from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The interests were registered with the parliamentary authorities but not declared alongside the questions they related to. The episode raised questions about transparency that are uncomfortable for any MP but particularly so for one whose political identity is built on working-class accountability.

His predecessor was Ann Coffey, who defected to The Independent Group for Change before the 2019 election. Stockport is safe Labour territory: the Conservatives collapsed to 11.4 percent in 2024 with Reform UK finishing second on 14.9 percent.

Mishra's strengths include genuine trade union organising experience, NEC membership at 29, the PPS resignation demonstrating independence, 7 rebellions confirming willingness to break the whip on welfare, and a 15,270 majority providing complete electoral security. His weaknesses include the Clifton College background creating a tension with his working-class trade unionist positioning, the India financial interests reporting failure, departure from the SCG suggesting political calculation, no ministerial office, and a parliamentary record that remains more campaigning than legislative. At 36, he has time and a safe seat. Whether the India questions episode was an administrative oversight or a transparency failure will determine whether it becomes a footnote or a recurring problem.