Hannah Bardell

Hannah Mary Bardell (born 1 June 1983)[1] is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Livingston in West Lothian, Scotland since the 2015 general election.[2][3][4] She served as the SNP Spokesperson for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2018 to 2019.[5]

Hannah Bardell

MP
Bardell in 2019
SNP Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
In office
17 May 2018 – 6 November 2019
LeaderIan Blackford
Preceded byBrendan O'Hara
Succeeded byJohn Nicolson
SNP Employment Spokesperson
In office
20 May 2015 – 30 September 2015
LeaderAngus Robertson
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byNeil Gray
Member of Parliament
for Livingston
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byGraeme Morrice
Majority13,435 (24.6%)
Personal details
Born
Hannah Mary Bardell

(1983-06-01) 1 June 1983
Livingston, Scotland
Political partyScottish National Party
Alma materUniversity of Stirling

Early life and education

Bardell was born on 1 June 1983 in Craigshill, Livingston. She attended Broxburn Academy and the University of Stirling. Bardell served as the National Union of Students' women's officer while studying at university.[6][7] Her first jobs were with STV Glasgow and GMTV London, where she became an assistant producer of The Sunday Programme, a current affairs series.[8][9]

Political career

After first meeting Alex Salmond in 2007, Bardell joined the SNP's election campaign for the 2007 Scottish Parliament election. For three years, she worked for Salmond and Ian Hudghton MEP in his constituency office.[10] Bardell then worked for the US State Department in their Edinburgh Consulate.[10] before joining the oil and gas industry, initially with Subsea 7, then for Oil & Gas Service company Stork as Head of Communications & Marketing for the UK, Africa & Norway. She left the oil & gas industry after only 3 years, in acrimonious circumstances, having admitted to having voluntarily signed a non-disclosure agreement on leaving her position with Stork after allegations of bullying. She refused to state whether any payment was made to her in relation to the NDA.[11]

Bardell contested the Livingston seat for the SNP in the 2015 UK general election. Her mother, Lis Bardell had previously finished in second place for the SNP in the same constituency at the 2010 UK general election.[6] Bardell was elected with 32,736 votes (56.9%), a majority of 16,843 votes over the sitting Labour Party MP, Graeme Morrice,[12] overturning a Labour majority of 10,791 votes at the 2010 general election.[13] Bardell became Shadow SNP Westminster Group Leader (Business, Innovation and Skills) in October 2015 and latterly was Spokesperson for Small Business, Enterprise and Innovation.[1]

She was re-elected at the 2017 UK general election, with a significantly reduced majority of 3,878 votes (7.4%).[14]

In November 2018, the Commons Speaker reprimanded Bardell for playing football in the historic debating chamber of the House of Commons at Westminster.[15]

Personal life

Bardell is one of 32 LGBT MPs in the House of Commons (according to 2016 figures). Following the 2015 general election, she said: "I only came out to myself and to my family during the election. I then chose not to say anything publicly because I had just got elected and I didn't want it to be one of the first things I said about myself as an MP".[16]

References
  1. "Biography for Hannah Bardell". MyParliament. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  2. "List of Members returned to Parliament at the General Election 2015 Scotland". The Edinburgh Gazette. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  3. "Election 2015 – Livingston". BBC News. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  4. Tufft, Ben (8 May 2015). "Scottish MPs in Westminster: The full list of the SNP parliamentarians". The Independent. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  5. "Hannah Bardell MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  6. Russell, Greg (20 May 2015). "Meet your new Scottish MPs: #8 Hannah Bardell, Livingston". The National. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  7. "Hannah Bardell". Scottish National Party. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  8. "Bardell, Hannah Mary, MP (SNP) Livingston, since 2015 | WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO". www.ukwhoswho.com. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u283949. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  9. Carr, Tim (18 May 2015). The Politicos Guide to the New House of Commons 2015: Profiles of the New MPs and Analysis of the 2015 General Election Results. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781849549240.
  10. Swanson, Ian (9 May 2015). "SNP brings seismic shift to Edinburgh politics". Evening News. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  11. "SNP MP Hannah Bardell: I signed non-disclosure agreement after workplace bullying". www.scotsman.com.
  12. "Election 2015: Livingston". BBC News. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  13. "Election 2015: Who are the 56 new SNP MPs?". 8 May 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  14. "Livingston parliamentary constituency – Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  15. "SNP MP reprimanded for playing football in House of Commons". HeraldScotland.
  16. Leftly, Mark (20 February 2016). "Gay MPs: The photograph that shows Westminster's attitude towards LGBT politicians is changing". The Independent. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Graeme Morrice		 Member of Parliament
for Livingston
2015–present		 Incumbent
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