Alec Shelbrooke

The Rt. Hon. Alec Edward Shelbrooke PC MP (born 10 January 1976) is a British Conservative politician who has been Member of Parliament for Elmet and Rothwell since 2010.[2]

Alec Shelbrooke

MP
Member of Parliament
for Elmet and Rothwell
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byConstituency created
Majority17,353 (29.8%)
Leeds City Councillor
for Harewood Ward
In office
2004 – 2010
Preceded byWard created
Succeeded byMatthew Robinson
Personal details
Born (1976-01-10) 10 January 1976[1]
Bromley, London, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Susan Shelbrooke
Alma materBrunel University
Websitewww.alecshelbrooke.co.uk

Early life

Born in 1976 in Bromley, Kent, Shelbrooke was educated at Saint George's Church of England Comprehensive School, Gravesend, and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Brunel University in 1998.[3] After leaving university, Shelbrooke became a director of non-research European projects at the University of Leeds.

Political career
The constituency offices of Shelbrooke in Wetherby, West Yorkshire.

He has fought four local government elections (being elected to Leeds City Council in 2004 and re-elected in 2006 as Councillor for Harewood Ward) and unsuccessfully stood in Wakefield at the 2005 General Election. He was Deputy Chairman of Elmet Conservative Association from 2001 to 2004.[4]

After entering parliament, in November 2010 Shelbrooke was confirmed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Minister of State for Transport Theresa Villiers.[5]

In September 2012, Shelbrooke was made PPS to Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Mike Penning.[6] He announced his delight at taking over the responsibility for "Northern Island" [sic] on Twitter and later blamed the spelling mistake on autocorrect.[7]

In December 2012, Shelbrooke introduced a Ten Minute Rule bill under which UK welfare claimants would be issued with a cash card instead of receiving their benefits in cash. The card would only permit claimants to make purchases such as food, clothing, energy, travel and housing, and prevent them purchasing items considered non-essential, such as cigarettes, alcohol, satellite television, and gambling.[8]

In May 2013, Shelbrooke was one of the 'rebel' Tory MPs who voted to 'express regret' at the lack of a referendum bill in the Queen's speech.[9] He subsequently voted in favour of a 2017 referendum on continued EU membership and opposed a rebel motion calling for it to be held in 2014.[10]

He became PPS to the Foreign Office in 2014. Shelbrooke was opposed to the UK leaving the European Union prior to the 2016 referendum.[11]

In 2016, Shelbrooke published two reports: one proposing Local Government reform in England,[12] and the other co-authored with Dr Mark McBride-Wright highlighting the impact of homophobia within the engineering industry.[13]

In 2017, he became Vice Chairman (International) of the Conservative Party (UK),[14] a soft-power role designed to promote the UK's interests overseas as well as supporting centre-right political parties in the developing world through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.[15] Shelbrooke remains an officer of the International Democrat Union.

Shelbrooke was an Executive Member of the 1922 Committee during a period of turbulence within the Conservative Party leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Theresa May in 2019.[16] He was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council in Theresa May's retirement honours list. Shelbrooke backed Jeremy Hunt in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election. that followed.

Shortly before the 2019 general election, Shelbrooke led a Westminster Hall debate on Endometriosis,[17] a condition in which cells similar to those in the endometrium, the layer of tissue that normally covers the inside of the uterus, grow outside the uterus.[18] He has also spoken out on other women's health issues such as the surgical mesh scandal in the UK, leading to the publication of a review by Julia Cumberlege, Baroness Cumberlege in 2020.[19]

In 2020, Shelbrooke was appointed Leader of the UK Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.[20]

In October 2020, Shelbrooke voted against a Labour Party Opposition Day Motion to extend free school meals over holidays. He told the Yorkshire Evening Post that he felt families were best supported by giving more money through the welfare system instead of adding an additional administrative burden to schools.[21][22]

Views

From his working background, Shelbrooke describes himself as a "Conservative Trade Unionist" and is member of union reform campaigning groups Blue Collar Conservatism and The Trade Union Reform Group.[3]

References
  1. "Alec Shelbrooke MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. "Shelbrooke, Rt Hon. Alec (Edward), (born 10 Jan. 1976), PC 2019; MP (C) Elmet and Rothwell, since 2010". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  3. "About Alec". page from official website. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  4. "Profile". telegraph.co.uk. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  5. Isaby, Jonathan (11 November 2010). "Twelve more of the 2010 intake appointed as PPSs". Tory Diary. Conservative Party. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
  6. "NIO roles for Damian Collins and Alec Shelbrooke". BBC News. 12 September 2012.
  7. "Alec Shelbrooke: Tory MP red faced after 'Northern Island' Twitter gaffe". The Daily Telegraph. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  8. "MP: Ban benefit claimants from buying alcohol". Democracy Live. BBC Online. 18 December 2012.
  9. "More than 100 Tory MPs 'express regret' at lack of referendum bill". BBC. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  10. "Alec Shelbrooke: Referendum on the UK's membership of the EU". Public Whip. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  11. Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  12. https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2016-09-06/debates/1EEFADA0-A3F3-4558-B6F5-326B6AA74F1E/LocalGovernmentReform or https://www.cratus.co.uk/local-government-reform
  13. "How homophobic bullying costs engineering industry £11bn". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  14. "Alec Shelbrooke MP - Working Hard for Elmet & Rothwell - Alec appointed Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party". Alec Shelbrooke. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  15. https://euronews.al/en/daily-news/2020/06/26/british-conservative-mp-alec-shelbrooke-praises-dp-model-for-the-selection-of-members-of-parliament or http://www.alecshelbrooke.co.uk/alec-appointed-vice-chairman-conservative-party/
  16. "What is the 1922 Committee and could its members oust Theresa May?". inews.co.uk. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  17. "We must do more to support women suffering from endometriosis". Politics Home. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  18. "About Endometriosis". nichd.nih.gov/. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  19. Haskell, Helen (6 August 2020). "Cumberlege review exposes stubborn and dangerous flaws in healthcare". BMJ. 370: m3099. doi:10.1136/bmj.m3099. PMID 32763955. S2CID 221011964. Retrieved 8 October 2020 – via www.bmj.com.
  20. "Membership". parliament.uk. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  21. "Why I voted against free school meals for children over the holidays - Leeds MP Alec Shelbrooke". The Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  22. "Leeds MP explains why he voted against free school meals for children". leeds-live.co.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Elmet and Rothwell
2010–present		 Incumbent
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