Morgan is originally from Fratton, a district of Portsmouth; where he attended local state schools including the comprehensive Priory School and then Portsmouth College. He was the first in his family to go to university studying politics and sociology at the University of Bristol before gaining a master's degree in politics at Goldsmiths in London. He was active in his community at a young age, inspired by his parents’ involvement in the area. Morgan's grandfather, from Southsea, left Portsmouth aged 17 to take part in the D-day landings where he served in the Royal Army Service Corps. After WW2, Morgan's grandfather continued to live in Portsmouth and helped found the local branch of Normandy Veterans Association. Morgan has publicly stated that his grandfather's actions are one of the reasons behind his work on veterans’ rights and adequate care for older members of the community. Morgan has been chair of Portsmouth Cultural Consortium, a resident-led group committed to improving the city through cultural regeneration, vice chair of Age UK Portsmouth and a governor at Arundel Court Junior School and his former secondary, Priory School. Before going into politics, Morgan's career was in local government working at Portsmouth City Council, later becoming Head ofCommunity Engagement for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. From 2015 until the snap general election of 2017, he was CEO of Basingstoke Voluntary Action. This role allowed him to run for public office for the first time and in May 2016 he became the councillor for Charles Dickens, a central ward in Portsmouth City Council. Later that year, he became the Leader of the Portsmouth Labour Group.
Parliamentary career
On 8 June 2017, a snap general election called by Prime Minister Theresa May was held, in which he defeated the incumbent ConservativeMPFlick Drummond for Portsmouth South by a majority of 1,554 and a swing of 22.9% from Conservative to Labour increasing the share of the vote by 21.5%, one of the largest increases in the country. This makes him the first member of his party to represent the seat since its creation in 1918. In his victory speech Morgan said, "Portsmouth had voted for hope". He later said "It has been a dream of mine to be an MP ever since I joined the party at the age of 16." In the general election of December 2019, Morgan more than trebled his majority recording the highest increase in Labour share of the vote in the country at 7.6%. In Parliament, Morgan has served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Andrew Gwynne, the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and on the Public Accounts Committee. From July 2019 until April 2020, he served in the Shadow Communities and Local Government team as a Shadow Minister. The brief included policy areas such as adult social care, children's services, faith and community cohesion, welfare reform and debt services to community pubs. The Portsmouth South MP has prioritised tackling crime, standing up for schools, investment in the NHS, being a strong voice on defence and addressing the climate emergency as his key tasks since being elected. Morgan speaks out on veterans’ issues citing Portsmouth's naval history and his own grandfather's military service as the driving forces. On 3 April 2019 he hosted a Westminster Hall debate calling on the government to do more to tackle veteran suicide. During the debate Morgan urged the Government to change policy and begin recording veterans’ suicide so that bespoke and mental health support services for our armed forces and their veterans could be implemented. Following his work standing up for the nation's armed forces, in January 2020 until April 2020 Morgan became the Shadow Minister for Defence Procurement. The brief included policy areas from the delivery of the equipment and support, nuclear enterprise, exports, cyber, innovation, science and technology, estates and environment and sustainability. Under the party leadership of Sir Keir Starmer MP, he was promoted on the opposition front bench in April 2020 to Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces. The role reports to the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence. Morgan is campaigning against cuts to Portsmouth schools and colleges and is a champion on education matters. He regularly visits local schools and set up the Inspiring Fratton awards to inspire people from his home district to aim high, work hard, and achieve their dreams. In 2016 Morgan campaigned in Portsmouth and voted to remain in the EU referendum. The constituency narrowly voted to leave, with a split of 51.76% leave and 48.24% remain, reflecting the national result. Morgan was an early supporter of the People's Vote campaign arguing that the only way to end the Brexit paralysis was to give people a final say. He has vowed to lead the remain campaign in Portsmouth in any confirmatory public vote. He is an officer on the Key Cities APPG, Cycling APPG, and LGBT Labour, and a long-standing Fabian. Morgan holds progressive views on immigration law, and has vowed to not report constituents to the Home Office for immigration enforcement.
