On This Day

15 March 1959

Happy birthday to Paul Kohler, MP for Wimbledon

In his youth Kohler was a member of a new wave band the Gotham City Swing Band. After studying at Cambridge University, Kohler taught at University College London and New College Oxford, later serving as head of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London School of Law. He is a visiting fellow at Queen Mary University of London. In 2018 Kohler was elected a councillor in the London Borough of Merton and fought Wimbledon for the Liberal Democrats at the 2019 general election, reducing the sitting Tory MP’s majority to just 628 votes. At the 2024 election Kohler turned the deficit into a majority of 12,610. In the Commons he served as Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Transport 2024-25 and is currently the Northern Ireland spokesperson; he is also a member of the Home Affairs and Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committees.