Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw

Biography

Benjamin Bradshaw was re-elected MP for Exeter in May 2010 with a majority of 2,721 votes.

Ben Bradshaw has been MP for Exeter since May 1997. He was minister of state at the Department of Health and Minister for the South West, before being promoted to become secretary of state for culture, media and sport in the last years of Gordon Brown's government.

During the 1997-2001 Parliament Ben was a member of the European Scrutiny Committee and the Ecclesiastical Committee. He piloted a Private Member's Bill, the Pesticides Bill, though the House. The bill became law in 1998. Ben was Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, a position he relinquished when appointed PPS to the then Health Minister John Denham in December 2000.

In the 2001 election Labour held Exeter, the first time it had ever done so, and Ben Bradshaw was re-elected with an increased share of the vote. He was appointed a junior Foreign Office Minister after the election and in the May 2002 reshuffle Ben was moved to become Deputy Leader of the House of Commons in June 2003 he was appointment Minister for Nature Conservation and Fisheries. In June 2007 he was appointed to his current position.

Ben is a member of several organisations including the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, SERA (the Labour Party's environmental group), the Christian Socialist Movement, the Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Stonewall and the Campaign for Real Ale.

Before his election Ben was a journalist. He trained on the Express & Echo in Exeter before working for BBC Radio Devon for three years. In 1989 he was appointed the BBC's Berlin correspondent and in 1991 returned to Britain to work as a reporter and presenter for Radio 4's World at One and World This Weekend.

Ben Bradshaw was born in 1960 and educated at Thorpe St Andrew School, Norwich. He studied German and Italian at Sussex University and the Freiburg University in Germany.

In 'real life' Ben is a keen cyclist, enjoys walking (particularly on Dartmoor), music and cooking. When he can he relaxes with his large family, including 9 nephews and nieces and 5 Godchildren. He lives in Exeter and London with his partner, Neal.

Constituency

Exeter

Twitter

Constituency Address

Labour Headquarters 26b Clifton Hill Exeter Devon EX1 2DJ

Constituency Tel

01392 424464

Date of Birth

30 August 1960

Email

Party

Labour

Personal Website

http://www.benbradshaw.co.uk/

Westminster Address

House of Commons Westminster London SW1A 0AA

Westminster Tel

020 7219 6597