Will Straw

[1] He worked as a civil servant, founded the political blog Left Foot Forward, was an associate director of the think-tank Institute for Public Policy Research, specialising in climate change, energy and transport,[2] and was chief operating officer of Clearly, a charity in the eye care sector.

[6] In January 1998, aged 17, he was caught trying to sell £10 of cannabis, after a friend was paid £2,000 by the Daily Mirror to introduce him to an undercover reporter posing as an acquaintance.

[7] The story caused some embarrassment for his father, who was Home Secretary at the time, both for his opposition to legalising cannabis and his stance on parents taking responsibility for the poor behaviour or criminality of their children.

In 2001, he and several other OUSU campaigners protested against tuition fees on the steps of Oxford's Bodleian Library by throwing off most of their clothes to reveal gold-painted torsos.

This generated some controversy, because of their use of blackface makeup, which Straw defended as a traditional custom linked to the coal mining heritage of the area.

[18] Straw was the executive director of Britain Stronger in Europe, the group that campaigned for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union, ahead of the 2016 referendum.