A record 20 members of parliament are limbering up to run this Sunday’s London Marathon, including chancellor Jeremy Hunt and former health secretary turned reality TV star Matt Hancock.
Hunt, one of 14 Tories taking a break from running the country to toe the start line, will be running for the seventh consecutive year and was the fastest MP in each of the previous three editions, with a personal best of 3:29:32 coming in 2022.
But Hunt remains almost an hour behind the fastest ever time posted by an MP - the 2:32:57 set by Matthew Parris in 1985. Jo Swinson, the former Liberal Democrat leader, has the quickest time by a female MP - finishing in 3:57:00 in 2011.
Just two Labour MPs - shadow minister Thangam Debbonaire and Barnsley Central representative Dan Jarvis - are listed, with Patrick Grady and David Linden representing the SNP.
Two peers are also hoping to be at the start in Greenwich: the Conservatives Lord Graham Evans and Lord James Bethell. They will be joined by a host of celebrities, including Ted Lasso star Phil Dunster and comedian Romesh Ranganathan.
Last year’s marathon raised more than £60m for charities, taking the cumulative total since the race’s inception in 1981 to over £1.2bn. The 2024 Charity of the Year is Samaritans UK and with 50,000 people in total expected to start, there are high hopes of the fundraising total from 2023 being eclipsed.
The elite wheelchair race will get proceedings underway at 9:05am, followed by elite women at 9:25am with the masses following behind the elite men at 10am. It usually takes more than an hour for every competitor to cross the three start lines, with the mass participants seeded in pens based on predicted finishing times.
The 20 MPs running London Marathon 2024
Duncan Baker (Con, North Norfolk); Alun Cairns (Con, Vale of Glamorgan); Bambos Charalambous (Independent, Enfield Southgate); Rehman Chishti (Con, Gillingham and Rainham); Dehenna Davison (Con, Bishop Auckland); Thangam Debbonaire (Lab, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture and Sport); Patrick Grady (SNP, Glasgow North); Matt Hancock (Ind, West Suffolk); Jeremy Hunt (Con, Chancellor of the Exchequer); Eddie Hughes (Con, Walsall North); Dan Jarvis (Lab, Barnsley Central); Caroline Johnson (Con, Sleaford and North Hykeham); David Linden (SNP, Glasgow East); Paul Scully (Con, Sutton and Cheam); David Simmonds (Con, Ruislip, Northwood, and Pinner); Edward Timpson (Con, Eddisbury - Cheshire); Will Quince (Con, Colchester); James Wild (Con, North West Norfolk).