Brendan Clarke-Smith

Brendan Clarke-Smith (born 17 August 1980)[1] is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bassetlaw in the 2019 general election.[2][3]

Brendan Clarke-Smith

MP
Member of Parliament
for Bassetlaw
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byJohn Mann
Majority14,013 (27.5%)
Personal details
Born (1980-08-17) 17 August 1980[1]
Clifton, Nottingham, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Children1
Alma materNottingham Trent University
OccupationPolitician

Personal life

Clarke-Smith was born in Clifton, Nottingham in 1980. He grew up on a council estate in Nottingham and was the first member of his family to go to university, studying politics at Nottingham Trent University and gaining a PGCE in religious education. He became a teacher and later Head of an International School in Romania.[4][5] At the time of his election to Parliament, he lived in Edwinstowe with his Romanian wife, who is a doctor at Bassetlaw Hospital. They have a four-year-old son.[6][3]

Political career

Clarke-Smith contested the EU elections in 2014 and 2019 in the East Midlands region. In May 2019, Clarke-Smith overturned a Labour majority in Boughton and Walesby to be elected as a Councillor on Newark & Sherwood District Council.[7]

He was selected as the Conservative party candidate for Bassetlaw in the December 2019 elections when the sitting MP John Mann stood down. He overturned a Labour majority with the biggest swing in the election, from a 4,852 Labour majority to a 14,013 Conservative majority.[8] This is the first time Bassetlaw has been represented by a party other than Labour since Malcolm MacDonald won the seat in 1929.[9] As one of the Conservative MPs who overturned Labour's so-called 'Red Wall' in the North and Midlands in the 2019 election, Clarke-Smith has varyingly been described by the press as part of "the Blue Collar Caucus"[10] and a "Red Wall Tory MP".[11]

Clarke-Smith said after his election as an MP that he has three main priorities:

  • "Getting Brexit done"
  • Improving Bassetlaw Hospital
  • Attracting more money for Retford and Worksop town centres.[12]

In March 2020 Clarke-Smith was appointed to the International Development Committee.[13]

Political opinions

Clarke-Smith campaigned to leave the EU in the 2016 EU referendum and was a member of the Bassetlaw Vote Leave campaign, which secured a 67.8% leave vote.[14] In May 2019 he commented that leaving the EU offered the chance to create more opportunities for young people globally, saying "We’re not leaving Europe, we’re leaving the EU. It’s not just about Europe, we want to get out and be more in the world. Britain has a very important place in the world.”[15]

During the 2019 general election Clarke-Smith said that food banks in the UK were being used both as a "top up" and as a "political weapon", saying it was "simply not true" that Britain is "some kind of country in crisis and in absolute poverty". When he was challenged over his comments he said it was not true that "people can't afford to buy food on a regular basis".[16] Following the election he was named by The Guardian as one of the seven "most controversial" new Conservative MPs.[17]

In December 2019, Clarke-Smith was reported to be one of the new members of the European Research Group.[18]

References
  1. "Brendan Clarke-Smith - Candidate for Bassetlaw in UK Parliament elections". Democracy Club. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  2. "Bassetlaw parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  3. Pridmore, Oliver (14 December 2019). "Meet the new Bassetlaw MP who used to be a headteacher in Transylvania". Nottingham Post. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  4. "Class of 2019: Meet the New MPs". The House. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  5. "Fresh Tory Faces Make Their Way to Westminster". The Times. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  6. "Brendan Clarke-Smith". Companies House. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  7. "Serving Councillor Bidding to Become Tory MP In Bassetlaw". Worksop Guardian. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  8. Wright, Mike (13 December 2019). "Conservatives take Bassetlaw with biggest swing of night - ending 90 years of Labour dominance". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  9. "Bassetlaw voters reject Labour in 'gigantic' swing to Tories at General Election". Lincolnshire Live. 13 December 2019.
  10. "Newly crowned Tory MPs rebel as they blast Rishi Sunak's plan to increase fuel tax". Express. 23 February 2020.
  11. Hope, Christopher (25 February 2020). "Rishi Sunak warned by 'Red wall' Tory MPs not to 'clobber' working classes with Budget fuel duty hike". The Telegraph.
  12. "Retford's new Conservative MP reveals his priorities after shock election win". Lincolnshire Live. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  13. "New appointments this week in UK politics, the civil service and public affairs". PoliticsHome. 9 March 2020.
  14. "Serving Councillor Bidding to Become Tory MP In Bassetlaw, Worksop Guardian". 15 November 2019.
  15. "Lincoln's Brexit battleground: 'What about our future?'". The Lincolnite. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  16. "Tory candidate blames 'staged outrage' after his foodbank comments spark fury". Daily Mirror. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  17. Syal, Rajeev; Mason, Rowena (16 December 2019). "Who are the Conservatives' most controversial new MPs?". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  18. "Why New MPs Are Rushing To Join The European Research Group". The Week. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Mann		 Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw
2019–present		 Incumbent
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