Ben Coleman is the Labour Party MP for Chelsea and Fulham, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Coleman won 18,556 votes, representing 39.4% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Greg Hands, received 18,404 votes (39.1%). The Liberal Democrat candidate, Blaise Baquiche, secured 3,611 votes (7.7%). Coleman was duly elected with a very narrow majority of 152.

The Chelsea and Fulham constituency was created in 2010.

Coleman’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Chelsea and Fulham was Greg Hands of the Conservative Party. Hands represented the seat from 2010 to 2024. The former Kensington and Chelsea constituency, which was largely succeeded by Chelsea and Fulham in 2010, was represented by the Conservatives from 1983 to 2010.

Political Career

Coleman serves as a trade envoy to the Kingdom of Morocco and Francophone West Africa (since January 2025). Appointed by the trade secretary, envoys are tasked with boosting British exports and attracting foreign investment. An envoy’s duties typically involve leading trade delegations, lobbying host governments on market access issues, and building relationships with overseas businesses.

Coleman is a member of the House of Commons health and social care select committee (since October 2024). The health and social care committee is a select committee of the House of Commons responsible for scrutinising the work of the Department of Health and Social Care and its associated public bodies.

In May 2026, Coleman was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed a joint statement insisting it was “no time for a leadership contest.” The letter was an intervention in the political crisis engulfing Keir Starmer’s premiership, after Labour suffered heavy losses in the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru. It was organised as a counterweight to a mounting rebellion that had seen high-profile figures, including some ministers, call for Starmer’s resignation.

The statement read: “Last week we had a devastatingly tough set of election results. It shows we have a hard job ahead to win back trust from the electorate.

“That job needs to start today – with all of us working together to deliver the change the country needs.

“We must focus on that. This is no time for a leadership contest.”

In January 2026, Coleman was one of over 60 Labour MPs to sign a letter to the prime minister calling for the introduction of an Australia-style ban on social media access for children under the age of 16. Organised by Plymouth Moor View MP Fred Thomas, the initiative brought together a cross-factional coalition of backbenchers – spanning the Socialist Campaign Group, Tribune Group and Blue Labour – to demand action.

The letter called on Keir Starmer to “show leadership” by introducing a minimum age for social media access “to protect young people from the consequences of unregulated, addictive social media platforms”.

It stated: “We are all strong supporters of technology, and of this Labour government’s ambition to use tech to improve lives. But successive governments have done far too little to protect young people from the consequences of unregulated, addictive social media platforms.”

Coleman is a patron of LGBT+ Labour – a socialist society formally affiliated with the Labour Party.

Coleman is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for Black health.

Coleman delivered his maiden speech on 23 July 2024 in a debate on immigration and home affairs.

In it, he said: “Fulham, together with Hammersmith, has the distinction of being the only place in England where the council – a Labour council – provides social care at home for free. I was responsible for overseeing that as the council’s former cabinet member for health and adult social care, and I very much look forward to joining the debate about the funding of social care across our country.”

“But against all this, I am afraid there is trouble in paradise. Alongside the great wealth in Chelsea and Fulham, there is also painful poverty.

“If anything is an indictment of the past 14 years, it is that food banks have become part of the British way of life.”

Before entering parliament, Coleman was elected as a Labour councillor on Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council in 2014. He resigned this post following his election to parliament. During this time, he served as deputy leader of the council.

Coleman stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Broxbourne in the 1997 general election.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Coleman was one of 175 Labour MPs who nominated Bridget Phillipson for the party’s deputy leadership in September 2025. The election followed the resignation of Angela Rayner, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and deputy party leader after an investigation into her tax affairs. It marked the first time since 2007 that Labour had held a deputy leadership contest while in government.

Phillipson, the serving education secretary, was widely viewed as the candidate favoured by Downing Street and the party leadership. She secured 175 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 80 required to reach the final ballot. She was ultimately defeated by Lucy Powell.

Factional identity and party tradition

Labour Movement for Europe: Coleman was endorsed by the Labour Movement for Europe (LME) in the 2024 general election. Founded in 1981, LME is a pro-European socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. It campaigns for a close relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The organisation refers to itself as the “home of the pro-Europeans in the Labour and trade union movement”.

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): Coleman was one of the over 120 Labour MPs to sign the reasoned amendment to the government’s flagship welfare bill which aimed to reject the proposed legislation.

The amendment, in the name of senior Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, objected to the fact that the bill had not been subject to a “formal consultation with disabled people” and that “250,000 people will be pushed into poverty” as a result of it, according to a government impact assessment.

The motion also called on the government to wait for the publication of the review into the Personal Independence Payment (Pip), helmed by minister Sir Stephen Timms, and the independent review, conducted by Sir Charlie Mayfield, into how the employment of disabled people could be boosted.

Welfare vote (July 2025): Coleman voted in favour of the government’s flagship welfare bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

In a statement at the time, Coleman said: “I welcome the government’s ambition to reform the social security system, support people into work and protect those who cannot work. As someone who seeks to be an ally to Disabled people, and following conversations with Disabled people locally, I was not convinced, however, that the Welfare Reform Bill presented to MPs for a”second reading” vote on 1 July would achieve this.”

He added: “I worked with a large number of MPs to improve the bill. This led to the government committing among other things not to change the Personal Independence Payments (PIP) system until after a review of PIP had been carried out in co-production with Disabled people – a much-needed development. On that basis, I voted for the bill.”

Assisted dying

Coleman voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

In a statement setting out his position, issued shortly after the bill’s second reading, Coleman said: “From numerous representations and conversations, it is clear to me that many Disabled people are terrified about the prospect of assisted dying being introduced, given their lifelong experience of being treated as second-class citizens.

“They fear that the rules will change in future or that they will one day feel such a burden on others or on society that their life should be ended for the greater good.

“Coercion isn’t always by others – people can put themselves under pressure as a result of being made to feel less valid throughout their lives.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Coleman voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Before Politics

Born Benjamin John Coleman, he attended Hampstead Comprehensive School. He studied French language and literature at the University of Liverpool and also studied at the Freie Universität Berlin.

Before entering politics, Coleman worked for many years in business consulting, communication and public affairs.

Personal Life

Coleman lives in his Chelsea and Fulham constituency.

In 2024, PinkNews listed Coleman among a number of out LGBTQ+ parliamentarians.

He entered into a civil partnership in 2008 at Fulham Town Hall.

Trivia

Coleman is the first Labour MP ever to represent the Chelsea and Fulham constituency.