Ben Bradley

Labour had held this seat since 1923.

The constituency had been represented by the Labour Party's Alan Meale since 1987 – before Bradley was born.

Benjamin David Bradley (born 11 December 1989) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, since the 2017 general election.

Bradley was born on 11 December 1989 in Ripley, Derbyshire, to Chris, a police officer, and Sally Bradley, a public servant.

He was privately educated at Derby Grammar School, a selective independent school based in the western Littleover area of Derby.

Bradley briefly attended the University of Bath and the University of Salford, but did not complete his undergraduate studies at either.

On returning to the East Midlands, he worked in a variety of jobs including as a landscape gardener, bartender and a supermarket shelf stacker.

He subsequently attended Nottingham Trent University where he studied politics, graduating in 2013.

He became interested in politics whilst at university.

After leaving university he worked for four months as a recruitment consultant.

He then became campaign manager and later constituency office manager for Mark Spencer, Conservative MP for Sherwood.

Bradley was a councillor on Ashfield District Council from May 2015 to September 2017.

Whilst working for Conservative MP Mark Spencer, Bradley was elected as Conservative councillor for the Hucknall North Ward on Ashfield District Council in May 2015, taking the newly created third seat for the ward following the approval of new ward boundaries.

As well as working for Spencer, Bradley subsequently worked as a senior parliamentary assistant to Nick Boles, the then Conservative MP for Grantham and Stamford.

Bradley voted for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union in the EU membership referendum on 23 June 2016.

Since the referendum, in which his constituency voted strongly to leave the EU, Bradley continued to support his party and voted for leaving the European Union.

Bradley had a mixed voting record on Theresa May's proposed withdrawal deal.

He has served on Nottinghamshire County Council since May 2017.

After being elected to the House of Commons in June 2017, Bradley chose to resign from Ashfield Council whilst remaining as a Nottinghamshire county councillor.

In May 2021, Bradley became Leader of the Council.

He was elected to Nottinghamshire County Council for the Hucknall North seat in May 2017.

Bradley was selected as the Conservative candidate for Mansfield for the June 2017 snap general election.

He overturned a Labour majority of 5,315 to become the first ever Conservative MP for the seat.

Aged 27, he was one of the youngest MPs elected in the 2017 general election, despite the acting Returning Officer wrongly announcing Meale as the victor.

Following his election as an MP, Bradley stepped down in September 2017 from his district council seat, and a by-election the following month saw the new Conservative Party candidate defeated by an Independent candidate for the vacant seat.

He has been criticised by political rivals for not standing down as a county councillor following his election to Parliament on the grounds that he had missed key local votes while working in London.

However, he argued that his new role as an MP meant that he had better links with which to do his job as a councillor.

He won Parliamentary Beard of the Year in December 2017, after the seven-time former winner, Jeremy Corbyn, was not allowed to stand.

Bradley sits on the Education Select Committee conducting Inquiries in to Special Educational Needs amongst other issues, and on the All-party Parliamentary groups for Ending Homelessness, Coalfields, Youth Services and Skills and Employment.

At the 2021 UK local elections, Bradley became the Leader of the Nottinghamshire County Council, having been elected to the Mansfield North Division.

On 14 December 2021, Bradley broke the party whip to vote against elements of the government's 'Plan B' COVID-19 restrictions, which included vaccine passports and mandatory COVID-19 vaccination of NHS staff.

However, he voted in favour of the expansion of laws requiring face coverings to be worn in public places.

On 12 May 2022, at a meeting of the full Nottinghamshire County Council, Bradley was re-affirmed as leader until 2025.

He was adamant that the dual-responsibilities of "...two high-profile, high-intensity roles" had worked well during the first year.

On 2 July 2023, Bradley declared himself a candidate for the 2024 East Midlands mayoral election.

Bradley suggested that, if successful, he would only act as Mayor in the future.

Bradley has said that his political motivation can be summarised as "that if you're willing to do the right thing and work hard, you should be rewarded."

On 8 January 2018, during Prime Minister Theresa May's Cabinet reshuffle, Bradley was appointed as Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party for Youth.

He resigned his role on 10 July 2018 in protest against May's strategy in relation to Brexit.

He is also the chairman of Blue Collar Conservatives.