Constituency: Exeter

Elected: 01-May-97

Website: www.benbradshaw.co.uk

Contact number: 01392 424 464

Email: bradshawb@parliament.uk

Address: Labour HQ, 26b Clifton Hill, Exeter, EX1 2DJ

About Ben:

Ben Bradshaw has been MP for Exeter since winning the seat in the 1997 general election. Before entering Parliament, Ben worked as a newspaper and radio journalist, starting his career in 1984 with Exeter's local paper the Express & Echo. After a stint at a local newspaper in Norwich, Ben moved into radio journalism with a posting at BBC Radio Devon. A highlight of Ben’s journalism career came in 1989 when he reported from Berlin on the fall of the Berlin Wall for BBC Radio. Ben remembers: My lucky career move was to get the job as the BBC's Berlin correspondent at the beginning of 1989. Berlin was seen as a rather quiet posting where nothing much happened. Within weeks of my arrival the East Germans were revolting and with the fall of the Wall I had the biggest story of the decade on my hands. After one Parliament on the back benches Ben was made a Minister in the Foreign Office in 2001. He then held posts as Deputy Leader of the Commons and Environment Minister before joining the Health team in 2007. One of my best moments as a Minister was when we successfully overturned Japan's majority on the International Whaling Commission. This followed a year long lobbying campaign of other countries and their Ministers and meant we could prevent Japan and her whale hunting allies from forcing through decisions which would have seriously reduced protection for these magnificent creatures. As recognition of this achievement, Ben won the Charity Champions Award for Animal Welfare, nominated by IFAW. The IFAW citation read: Under Ben Bradshaw's stewardship, the Government took decisive action to bolster the pro-conservation mandate of the International Whaling Commission by leading a recruitment drive to urge like-minded pro-conservation and animal welfare governments to join the IWC. The recruitment drive had a dramatic impact when at the May 2007 meeting of the IWC, Japan's simple majority was overturned and the pro-conservation direction of the IWC restored. Ben is a member of the GMB, NUJ and Usdaw. His principle hobbies include hiking in Devon and Cornwall, going to the theatre, and spending time with his godchildren. Ben and his partner Neal have lived together for 12 years in Exeter and London, they celebrated their Civil Partnership in 2006.