Janet Daby
Janet Jessica Daby is a British Labour politician who has served as Member of Parliament for Lewisham East since 2018. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families from July 2024 until September 2025.
Early life and career
Janet Sarju was born on 15 December 1970 to parents who were Windrush migrants from Guyana and Jamaica. She attended Blackheath Bluecoat School in Greenwich. Daby then studied at Brunel University, graduating with a BSc, before graduating with a MSc at London School of Economics.Daby worked in volunteer management and children's social care, acting as a registered fostering manager. She founded the Whitefoot and Downham Community Food + Project in 2013, for which she became a director.
Political career
Daby was elected as a Lewisham borough councillor at the 2010 local elections, when she gained the Whitefoot ward from the Liberal Democrats and received the most votes of the three elected candidates. She was re-elected in 2014 and 2018, also topping the poll on these occasions. In addition, Daby served as deputy mayor of the London Borough of Lewisham during this period. She resigned from the Council in March 2019.Parliamentary career
Daby was selected in May 2018 as Labour's candidate in the 2018 Lewisham East by-election, after hustings with an all-women shortlist. At the election, Daby was elected to Parliament as MP for Lewisham East with 50.2% of the vote and a majority of 5,629. In response to ongoing uncertainty over Brexit, Daby pledged to fight for the UK to remain in the European Union Customs Union and the European single market.Daby announced her resignation as a Lewisham councillor on 20 March 2019, to concentrate on her role as an MP, noting that she would continue to represent Whitefoot residents in the Houses of Parliament.
At the 2019 general election, Daby was re-elected as MP for Lewisham East with an increased vote share of 59.5% and an increased majority of 17,008.
On 9 April 2020, Daby was given her first shadow ministerial post by Labour Party leader Keir Starmer as Shadow Minister for Faiths. She also became a Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities in July 2020.
She resigned from the frontbench on 7 December 2020, after she suggested that registrars who have a religious objection to same-sex marriage should be protected from losing their jobs if they refuse to certify the partnership, an action which would be viewed as unlawful discrimination. She later apologised for her remarks.
Daby is a member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.
At the 2024 general election, Daby was re-elected to Parliament as MP for Lewisham East, with a decreased vote share of 58.2% and an increased majority of 18,073.
In November 2024, Daby voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults Bill, which proposes to legalise assisted suicide.
In the September 2025 British cabinet reshuffle, Daby left the frontbench.