Daniel Zeichner was elected as Labour MP for Cambridge in 2015, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 9,639.
The constituency of Cambridge is focussed almost entirely on the city of Cambridge itself. The seat is dominated by the Universities of Cambridge and East Anglia, and student voters are said to amount to around a sixth of the electorate. Also containing its own science park with a number of high tech industries, Cambridge has long possessed the highest number of professional voters of any UK constituency. A high 74% of the electorate voted ‘Remain’ in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
A swing seat that was held by the Conservatives between 1967 and 1992, Cambridge turned Labour in 1992, before moving to the Liberal Democrats between 2005 and 2015, and then turning back solidly to Labour in 2015. Cambridge was once represented in Parliament by Oliver Cromwell back in 1639.
In 2020 Zeichner was appointed as the Shadow Farming and Rural Affairs Minister.
Born in 1956, Daniel read history at Cambridge University in 1976 . He worked as a computer programmer, and as political officer for the union Unison before being elected to Parliament. He was formerly a councillor on South Norfolk District Council.
Zeichner has described his politics as ‘socialist in a modern context’.
In the 2010 Labour leadership election, Zeichner supported Ed Miliband, rather than his brother David Miliband. He supported Owen Smith in his 2016 challenge to Jeremy Corbyn. In 2020 he backed Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.
He was a strong supporter for Britain to remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum.
Zeichner is a Cambridge United season-ticket holder, and enjoys music. He is interested in constitutional reform, and supports reducing the voting age to 16, electoral reform, and House of Lords reform.
At Westminster, Daniel Zeichner is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Bullying; Data Analytics; Electoral Reform; Innovation Corridor; Life Sciences; the Short Lets Sector; and Universities. He is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Chalk Streams; Climate Change; East of England; Future Generations; Internet, Communications and Technology; Medical Research; Social Science and Policy; Video Games and E-sports; and Taxis.
Email: daniel@danielzeichner.co.uk
Personal Website: http://www.danielzeichner.co.uk/
Twitter: twitter.com/DanielZeichner
