David Chaplin

David Chaplin was Chair of the Young Fabians from 2009 to 2010 and he is a British Labour Party blogger and commentator.

Background and positions held
In 2010 he was elected to the Fabian Society Executive Committee.

He was a member of the Young Fabians Executive since 2006 and held roles including Vice Chair in 2008/9 and Chair in 2009/10. As Policy & Communications Officer, Chaplin set up the Young Fabian Policy Forums at an event in the city with Lord Drayson the former Science Minister.

Chaplin wrote a regular 'Young Progressives' column for Progress, and for the Young Fabian Blog. As well as the grass-roots Labour website LabourList where he has written about online campaigning and new media.

Chaplin was tipped as part of the next generation of the Labour Party by the national newspaper The Independent after featuring on the front-cover of Esquire alongside other young leading lights in the Labour Party such as Chuka Umunna. Chaplin also appeared in the top ten young ones to watch in the Independent on Sunday alongside Jessica Asato, another former Chair of the Young Fabians.

Chaplin has been published in the magazine of the New Labour pressure group and think-tank Progress, he wrote a controversial article for the Progress magazine on the opium trade in Afghanistan titled 'the parallel state'.

In 2009 Chaplin co-edited a pamphlet for the Fabian Society with Labour Party activist and former parliamentary candidate Claire Leigh, titled 'Fast Forward: The Next Generation of Progressive Politics' which featured contributions from young politicians including Conor McGinn.

In 2010 the Young Fabians marked their fiftieth year by holding an event with Lord Mandelson at the Fabian Society New Year Conference. The Young Fabians also guest edited the grass-roots Labour website LabourList for a day to mark their fiftieth anniversary.