Ben Spencer (politician)

Benjamin Walter Jack Spencer (born 11 December 1981) is a British Conservative Party politician and psychiatrist. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Runnymede and Weybridge at the 2019 general election.[3] He is currently a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

Ben Spencer

MP
Spencer in 2020
Member of Parliament
for Runnymede and Weybridge
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byPhilip Hammond
Majority18,270 (34.3%)
Personal details
Born
Benjamin Walter Jack Spencer[1]

(1981-12-11) 11 December 1981[2]
Liverpool, England
Political partyConservative
Children2
WebsiteOfficial website

Medical career

Spencer is a psychiatrist who has worked at both King's College Hospital and Maudsley Hospital.[4] In 2013 he was awarded the Advanced Psychiatric Trainee of the Year Award by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.[5] At King's College hospital he was chair of the Psychiatry Physical Health Committee.[6] He leads the Conservative Health - Mental Health Special Interest Group (SIG).[7]

Political career

Spencer challenged long-serving Labour MP Harriet Harman in the Camberwell and Peckham constituency in 2017.[4] He was selected to contest the Conservative safe seat of Runnymede and Weybridge in the 2019 general election after the sitting MP Philip Hammond had the whip withdrawn in September 2019 along with 21 other Conservative MPs and announced that he would not seek reelection.

Although he voted for the second COVID-19 lockdown, Spencer is a steering committee member of the lockdown-sceptic COVID Recovery Group, a group of Conservative MPs who oppose the UK government's December 2020 lockdown.[8] They have been seen as an "echo" of the Brexiteer European Research Group (ERG) of MPs, and a response by backbench Conservatives to Nigel Farage's anti-lockdown Reform UK party.[8]

References
  1. "No. 62862". The London Gazette. 20 December 2019. p. 23192.
  2. "Members' Names Data Platform query". UK Parliament. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  3. "Runnymede & Weybridge parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Election 2019. BBC. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  4. "Meet Ben Spencer, the Maudsley Hospital junior doctor standing as GE2017 Tory candidate for Camberwell and Peckham". Southwark News (1 June, 2017). Southwark News Limited. 2017.
  5. "Roll of Honour November 2019" (PDF). /www.rcpsych.ac.uk. Royal College of Psychiatrists. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  6. "Junior Doctor Initiative". www.kcl.ac.uk. Kings College Hospital. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  7. "Conservative Health - Mental Health Special Interest Group". Dr Ben Spencer for Runnymede and Weybridge. Dr Ben Spencer for Runnymede and Weybridge. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  8. Hope, Christopher (10 November 2020). "Tory lockdown rebels unite to form Covid Recovery Group". The Telegraph.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Philip Hammond		 Member of Parliament for Runnymede and Weybridge
2019–present		 Incumbent
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