Benjamin Bradshaw was elected as the Labour Party MP for Exeter in 1997, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 10,403.
The constituency of Exeter is based almost exclusively on the city of Exeter in Devon. Encompassing the county town of Devon, the Met Office and Exeter University are both found within this constituency. It has been one of the Labour Party’s few safe seats in the South West of England, being held by the party ever since 1997.
Bradshaw was previously a member of the Cabinet under Gordon Brown as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Before that he was Minister of State at the Department of Health and Minister for the South West.
He announced in February 2022, that he plans to step down from Parliament at the next election.
Bradshaw supported Owen Smith in his 2016 challenge to Jeremy Corbyn. He supported Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour leadership election.
Previously he piloted a Private Member’s Bill, the Pesticides Bill, though the House of Commons. The bill became law in 1998.
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.
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. He won the Sony News Reporter of the Year Award in 1993.
He is a member of 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. He is Trustee of the Terrence Higgins Trust.
Ben Bradshaw is the Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on the South West; and Patron of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling and Walking.
A keen cyclist, he lives in Exeter and London with his husband, Neal. He enjoys wild swimming.
Email: bradshawb@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://www.benbradshaw.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenPBradshaw
