Benjamin Walter Jack Spencer (11 December 1981) is a

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

and British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician serving as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Runnymede and Weybridge since 2019.

Early life

Born in Liverpool, Spencer attended Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall and the Royal Free and

University College London Medical School UCL Medical School is the medical school of University College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. The School provides a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programmes and also has a medical educatio ...

Medical career

Spencer specialised in General Adult Psychiatry and worked as both a consultant psychiatrist on a women's inpatient ward then later in HIV psychiatry. During his career, he researched decision-making capacity in people with schizophrenia and received a PhD in Psychological Medicine, working within the Mental Health, Ethics and Law Research Group at King's College London.

Political career

Spencer sits in the seat of Runnymede and Weybridge. His voting record shows him voting the same way as the vast majority of other Conservative MPs. Spencer has been successful in both Private Members Bill Ballots since his election. In 2020, he aimed to put forward the Mental Health Admissions (Data) Bill, however due to COVID and disruption to the Parliamentary schedule, this was unable to proceed through the House. In 2021, Spencer introduced a second Private Member's Bill presenting his Planning (Enforcement) Bill to Parliament in June 2021. The Bill's second reading took place on 19 November 2021 but was withdrawn with a view to incorporating the provisions in the forthcoming Planning Bill. He is currently a member of the

Work and Pensions Select Committee The Work and Pensions Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Work and Pensi ...

and COVID Recovery Group. On 3 November 2021, Spencer voted not to suspend

Owen Paterson Owen William Paterson (born 24 June 1956) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2012 and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2012 to 2014 under Prime Minist ...

after he had been found guilty of paid lobbying by the Parliamentary Committee on Standards. Spencer later claimed he regretted the decision after Paterson had resigned. On 23rd September 2022, following the fiscal event introduced by Kwasi Kwarteng, Spencer made a speech in the Commons supporting the measures that had been announced. On 3 October 2022, Spencer was appointed

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to the

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

and

Chairman of the Conservative Party The chairman of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom is responsible for party administration and overseeing the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, formerly Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in government, the off ...

Jake Berry Sir James Jacob Gilchrist Berry (born 29 December 1978) is a British Conservative Party politician and former solicitor who served as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio from 6 September to 25 October 2022. He pr ...

Personal life

Spencer lives in the constituency with his wife and two children. He has two cats called Frazzle and Ragnar.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Ben 1981 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English psychiatrists UK MPs 2019–present