Tom Rutland is the first ever Labour MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, a seat Tim Loughton, a former Children's Minister, had held for 27 years since its creation in 1997. Born in February 1992, he grew up just over the Sussex border in Kent, attended a state school, and now lives in Shoreham. He read PPE at Jesus College, Oxford, was JCR President there and then President of the Oxford University Student Union in 2013-14, the most senior student political role at Oxford, marking him out as a more formed political figure than "public affairs and communications" implies.

His career after Oxford was wide. He worked on Tessa Jowell's 2015 campaign to be Labour's London mayoral candidate, was a parliamentary researcher for Lord Adonis, an analyst at Deloitte, an executive support officer at Tower Hamlets Council, a Public Affairs Officer at Imperial College London, a press officer at the Financial Conduct Authority, and finally press officer at the Prospect trade union until 2024. He was a Lambeth councillor from 2022 to 2024.

He was elected in 2024 with 22,120 votes (45.1 percent) and a majority of 9,519 (19.4 percent), defeating the Conservative Leila Williams. He sits on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee and chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group for the BBC. In May 2026 he resigned as PPS to Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds and called for Keir Starmer to set out a timetable for leaving office.

Rutland's strengths include growing up near the constituency and living in Shoreham, Jesus College Oxford PPE, the OUSU presidency, a varied career spanning Deloitte, the Jowell campaign, a researcher role for Lord Adonis, and FCA and Prospect press roles, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, the BBC APPG chair, the historic first Labour win, and a 19.4 percent majority. His weaknesses include calling for the PM's departure closing any door to government under this leadership, a council record built in Lambeth rather than Sussex, the Oxford PPE and OUSU presidency making him look like a professional political class product in a coastal seat, no ministerial office, no legislative achievement, and a combined Conservative and Reform vote larger than Labour's. At 34, with Oxford PPE, the OUSU presidency, Deloitte and the CMS Committee, he has an unusually polished political formation for his age. Whether Shoreham and Worthing voters see the BBC APPG, the CMS work and the Starmer rebellion as relevant to sewage, housing and NHS access will determine whether the first Labour MP becomes a lasting presence.