Sir Alec Shelbrooke is the Conservative MP for Wetherby and Easingwold, having first been elected to parliament for the predecessor seat of Elmet and Rothwell at the 2010 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Shelbrooke won 20,597 votes, representing 39.4% of the vote. The Labour candidate, Ben Pickles, received 15,751 votes (30.1%), while the Reform UK candidate, Mike Jordan, secured 7,288 votes (13.9%). Shelbrooke was duly elected with a majority of 4,846 votes.

The Wetherby and Easingwold constituency was newly created for the 2024 election, drawing territory from several former seats including Elmet and Rothwell, Thirsk and Malton, and Selby and Ainsty. It covers parts of North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, including towns such as Wetherby, Easingwold, Tadcaster, and Boroughbridge. The area is considered safe Conservative territory.

Political Career

Shelbrooke is a member of the panel of chairs (since November 2025). The panel of chairs is made up of MPs chosen by the House of Commons speaker, typically at the beginning of every parliament, to chair public bill committees and other commons general committees. In this capacity, Shelbrooke also chairs debates in Westminster Hall and may also act as temporary chair during a committee of the whole House.

Shelbrooke currently leads the UK delegation to the Nato parliamentary assembly (since 2020) and was elected vice-president of the assembly in November 2024. He has been a UK representative to the assembly since 2015.

Shelbrooke served as shadow parliamentary under secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs from July 2025 to November 2025 on the Conservative frontbench appointed by Kemi Badenoch. He was shadow minister for transport from July 2024 to November 2024 on the Conservative frontbench constructed by Rishi Sunak following the general election of that year.

Prior to the 2024 general election, which saw the Conservatives ejected from government, Shelbrooke served as minister of state for defence procurement from September to October 2022 under prime minister Liz Truss. He was previously vice chairman of the Conservative Party from 2017. He also served as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to ministers at the Department for Transport (2010-2012), Northern Ireland Office (2012-2014) and the Foreign Office (2014-2015).

In July 2022, Shelbrooke broke the Conservative whip for the first time, voting against a legal change approving regulations to allow agency workers to replace strikers.

Shelbrooke declared: “For the first time in my entire parliamentary career I shall be voting against the Government tonight.”

He argued that the proposal “was not in our manifesto” and appears to have been “done very quickly in reaction to what’s going on in the public sector”.

He added: “The private sector does have quite a few unscrupulous employers and if people are going to lose their ability to have an effect when they withdraw their labour, then I am afraid they have effectively lost the ability to withdraw their labour.”

Shelbrooke describes himself as a trade unionist and was a member of Unite for 11 years. In a 2012 ConservativeHome article, Shelbrooke said he was a “firm believer in the need for trade unions”.

He told the House of Commons in February 2012: “We will stand up, debate and have an argument, but 95% of the people out there would sweat with fear at having to stand up right now to make arguments. That is why we need healthy, working trade unions.”

In 2016, Shelbrooke introduced a private members’ bill (PMB) calling for unpaid internships to be banned. He called the practice a “scourge on social mobility”.

In June 2022, Shelbrooke publicly declared their support for the prime minister, Boris Johnson, ahead of a Conservative “no-confidence” in his leadership. The vote was triggered by discontent within the parliamentary party following the “partygate” scandal and the publication of the Sue Gray report. While the prime minister ultimately won the vote, the scale of the rebellion against him, with 148 of his own MPs voting to remove him, severely weakened his authority and presaged his resignation the following month.

In May 2020, Shelbrooke criticised the actions of Johnson’s then-chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, over his journeys during the first national lockdown. The actions of Cummings, which included a trip from London to County Durham and a subsequent drive to Barnard Castle, were seen by many as a breach of the government’s own “stay at home” guidance.

At the time, Shelbrooke described Cummings’ position as “untenable”.

Shelbrooke was a member of the House of Commons European scrutiny committee (2015-2016), the housing, communities and local government committee (2014-2015), and the backbench business committee (2013-2014).

Shelbrooke is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for Alevis, classical music, endometriosis, first do no harm – mesh, Primodos, valproate and snooker.

Shelbrooke was knighted in Truss’ resignation honours list.

Shelbrooke delivered his maiden speech on 8 June 2010 during a debate on the Finance Bill.

In it, he said: “My constituents are very worried about the jobs they are in, which I heard time and again, and about securing the economic recovery and job security.”

He added: “We need to restore faith in politics, and I think we are making a good start with such a great intake of new MPs, and with returning honourable members realising that much work needs to be done to improve this place.”

Before entering parliament, Shelbrooke served as a Conservative councillor for Harewood ward on Leeds City Council from 2004 to 2010.

He stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate for Wakefield in the 2005 general election.

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Tory leadership 2024: Shelbrooke supported Priti Patel’s candidacy in the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Rishi Sunak following the party’s defeat in the 2024 general election. Patel, the former home secretary, was eliminated in the first parliamentary ballot on 4 September after receiving 14 votes.

Shelbrooke went on to support James Cleverly’s candidacy. During the contest, Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, urged the party to “be more normal”. On 9 October, in a major upset, Cleverly was eliminated in the fourth ballot after his support dropped to 37 votes. The result was widely attributed to a failure of tactical voting by supporters who assumed his place in the final two was secure.

Tory leadership 2022 (I): Shelbrooke supported Liz Truss’ candidacy in the Conservative Party’s July-September 2022 leadership election. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Boris Johnson, following the mass exodus of more than 60 frontbenchers.

Truss, the then-foreign secretary, campaigned on a platform of sweeping tax cuts. After finishing second in the final parliamentary ballot with 113 votes, she won the subsequent vote of the party membership with 81,326 votes (57.4%) and was appointed prime minister on 6 September.

Tory leadership 2019: Shelbrooke supported Jeremy Hunt, the then-foreign secretary, for the party’s leadership in 2019. The election was triggered by the resignation of Theresa May following her inability to secure a Brexit deal acceptable to the Conservative Party.

Hunt, campaigning as a “unity candidate”, secured 77 votes from MPs in the final parliamentary round and thereby reached the final head-to-head ballot against Boris Johnson. In the subsequent vote by the party membership, Hunt finished as runner-up with 46,656 votes (33.6%) compared to Johnson’s 92,153 (66.4%).

Tory leadership 2016: Shelbrooke supported Theresa May for the party’s leadership in July 2016. The contest was triggered by the resignation of David Cameron following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

May, the then-home secretary, secured a commanding lead in the parliamentary stages, receiving 165 votes in the first ballot and 199 in the second. Following the withdrawal of her final rival, Andrea Leadsom, on 11 July, May was declared leader unopposed and was appointed prime minister two days later.

Factional identity and party tradition

Conservative Environment Network: Shelbrooke is listed as a member of the Conservative Environment Network (CEN) parliamentary caucus. CEN is an independent forum for conservatives that supports conservation and decarbonisation. It calls for the environment to be given a higher profile at the heart of policy making, describing “biodiversity loss, climate change, and wasteful resource use are threats to our national security”, and promotes “market-based policies” to environmental challenges. Members of its parliamentary caucus, such as …, are thought to generally align with the group’s “green” message and environmentalism.

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Shelbrooke supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore disagreed with a majority of his constituents, 56.8% of whom also voted to Leave.

Article 50: In February 2017, Shelbrooke voted in favour of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The legislation empowered the prime minister to notify the Council of the European Union of the UK’s intention to withdraw, formally triggering the process set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. MPs supported the bill by 498 votes to 114 at second reading.

Assisted dying

Shelbrooke 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).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Shelbrooke voted against 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.

Same-sex marriage (2013): In February 2013, Shelbrooke was one of the 139 Conservative MPs to vote against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill at its second reading. The landmark piece of legislation, which received its second reading by 400 votes to 175, legalised marriage for same-sex couples in England and Wales.

Foreign policy and security

Trident renewal (2016): Shelbrooke voted in favour of a government motion calling for the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent system in July 2016. The motion, which was passed by 472 votes to 117, committed the UK to constructing a new fleet of submarines to carry the nation’s nuclear weapons.

Syria airstrikes (2015): Shelbrooke voted in favour of a government motion to extend UK airstrikes against Isis from Iraq into Syria in December 2015. The motion, which was passed by 397 votes to 223 after a ten-hour debate in the House of Commons, authorised the RAF to conduct strikes against Isis targets in Syria.

Syria airstrikes (2013): Shelbrooke voted in favour of the government’s motion on the principle of military intervention in Syria in August 2013. The government motion was defeated by 285 votes to 272, a move which effectively ruled out UK participation in any US-led military strikes.

Sanctioned (Russia): In April 2022, Shelbrooke was among the group of MPs placed on a sanctions list by the Russian government. The measure barred them from entering Russia and was presented by Moscow as a retaliatory response to the UK’s stance on the invasion of Ukraine.

Before Politics

Alec Edward Shelbrooke was born in Bromley, South London on 10 January 1976. He was educated at St George’s Church of England School in Gravesend. He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from Brunel University in 1998.

After university, he joined the Royal Navy and then worked as a project manager at the University of Leeds.

Personal Life

Shelbrooke lives in his Yorkshire constituency with his wife, Susan Shelbrooke.

He is partially deaf.

In January 2025, Shelbrooke revealed he had used a weight-loss drug to lose more than five stone in weight.

He told the House of Commons: “There’s a lot of new members in the chamber, and they don’t know who I am, so they won’t have seen me be enormously fat, and down to the size I am now. And I have struggled with my weight throughout my life and I have controlled my weight for several years.

“It’s been a difficult journey to go through, but I have tried to eat healthy, I’ve tried to do things with my weight and I got to the point where I couldn’t. In the middle of September I started taking Wegovy, and in that time I have lost over five stone.”

He added: “I have gone from 42 BMI to 30 BMI and I’ve still got a couple of stone to go. But, this is the big but, you’ve got to work with it, these are not miracle drugs.”

Trivia

In 2015, the BBC apologised after suggesting Shelbrooke was asleep during a commons debate on the Trade Union Bill when he was in fact trying to listen to a speaker.