Stephen O’Brien is no longer a Member of Parliament. This page has not been updated since 2015.
Biography:
Stephen O’Brien was re-elected MP for Eddisbury in May 2010 with a majority of 13,255.
Stephen is married (1986) to Gemma, a nurse. They have three children, James, Angus and Clara, and live near Tarporley in the constituency.
Stephen was elected the Conservative MP for Eddisbury at the by-election on 22nd July 1999.
He is currently the Prime Minister’s Envoy and UK Representative to the Sahel.
He has previously served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development from May 2010 to September 2012. He was also Shadow Minister for Health. From May to December 2005, he served as the Shadow Minister for Skills. From November 2003 to 2005, was Shadow Secretary of State for Industry. Previously, he held the post of Shadow Minister for the Treasury.
Before that, he was appointed an Opposition Whip in September 2001. From September 2000 to September 2001, he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chairman of the Conservative Party, the Rt Hon Michael Ancram QC MP. From February to September 2000, he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Francis Maude MP. Stephen has also served as a member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Employment and on the Education sub-Committee.
In addition, he has served as Secretary of the Conservative Northern Ireland Committee and Secretary of the Conservative Trade & Industry Committee.
In 2001, he was appointed an Associate of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body. He is Chairman of the All Party Group on Malaria, also of Tanzania and Vice Chairman of the All Party Aid Trade & Debt Group.
In 2000, Stephen introduced a Private Member’s Bill for honesty in Food Labelling (country of origin and standards of production).
From 1999, Stephen has served on the Conservative Party’s National Membership Committee.
Between 1995 and 1999, Stephen was Chairman of the Public and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of BMP (National Council of Building Materials Producers, latterly the Construction Products Association) and sat on BMP’s Committee of Management and Strategy sub-committee. He was a trade member of the 1994 mission to Argentina and Brazil with the Rt Hon Sir Richard Needham MP (Minister for Trade). Stephen was elected member of the South East Regional Council of the CBI between 1995 and 1998, sitting on the CBI’s International Investment Committee and Working Parties on Anti-Corruption (pan-European) and Corporate Governance (UK).
After two years Articles, he qualified as a Solicitor in 1983 and practised until 1988 at solicitors Freshfields (City of London).
From 1988 to 1998, Stephen was Group Company Secretary and Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs together with directorships and management positions in many of the Group’s in the UK and overseas operations at Redland PLC, the FTSE-100 global building materials producer (acquired by Lafarge SA in early 1998). In 1998, he established his own international business consultancy specialising in corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions.
On 29th May 2015 he became the United Nations’ Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
Constituency: Eddisbury
Constituency Address: Eddisbury, Conservative Association, 4 Church Walk, High Street, Tarporley, Cheshire CW6 0AJ
Date of Birth: 1 April 1957
Party: Conservative
