Glenn Bedingfield (born 15 November 1974,

Pietà, Malta Pietà ( mt, Tal-Pietà) is a small town in the Central Region of Malta, located near the outskirts of the capital city Valletta. Pietà is the suburb next-closest to the capital after Floriana. Its name is derived from Italian and signifies "Me ...

) is a Member of the Parliament of Malta and Government Whip.

Career

Bedingfield was one of the first journalists to join the newly set up Labour Party owned Super One Radio and

Super One Television One (stylized as ONE and previously known as Super One Television) is a television station in Malta owned by One Productions, the Labour Party's media arm. Broadcasts commenced in March 1994. Studios The station is administered and broadcasts ...

, One Productions in 1991. As an investigative political journalist Bedingfield won the 2002 Journalist of the Year award for broadcast TV. Bedingfield is currently serving as the Chairman of the Kottonera Foundation.

Politics

Bedingfield came to the Labour Party fold at the start of the 90s after a journalistic stint with Bay Radio, when he joined

One Productions Ltd One Productions Limited, also known as the One Group, is a Maltese mass media and telecommunications company owned by the Labour Party. Its operations include the television station One, radio service One Radio One Radio (stylized as ONE Rad ...

, Labour's media venture. Since then, he has been involved in politics at district level and he was as a member of the youth section of the Labour Party, the

Labour Youth Forum Labour Youths ( mt, Żgħażagħ Laburisti, ŻL), formerly known as the Labour Youth Forum ( mt, Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti, FŻL) until 2021, the Young Socialist League ( mt, Għaqda Żgħażagħ Socjalisti, GħŻS) until 1992 and the Labour ...

(Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti) where he served as General Secretary (1996–97). Between 1997 and 2001, he was elected member in the Labour Party national executive. Bedingfield was one of four candidates chosen by Labour Party delegates during an extraordinary general conference held on 18 November 2003. Back then, MEP candidates had to win 70 per cent of valid votes from delegates during the conference. The other chosen MEP candidates were

John Attard Montalto John Attard Montalto (born 7 February 1953) is a Maltese politician who was a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2014. He is a member of the Labour Party, which is part of the Party of European Socialists. He served in the gover ...

and

Louis Grech Louis Grech (born 22 March 1947) is a Malta, Maltese politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Malta, as well as Minister of European Affairs. He also served as Deputy Leader for Parliamentary Affairs of the Malta Labour Party, Labour Pa ...

(today

MEPs A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

), as well as

Joseph Muscat Joseph Muscat (born 22 January 1974) is a Maltese politician who served as the prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020, and as the leader of the Labour Party from June 2008 to January 2020. Muscat was re-elected as prime minister in the ...

. Bedingfield contested successfully the local general elections in 2017 and was elected in the Maltese Parliament. Since January 2020, Bedingfield has been serving as a Government Whip.

European Parliament

Bedingfield was elected as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

and successor of

, who relinquished his seat to become

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. Elected on the first count with 62% of the votes, adding to nearly 20,000 votes, Bedingfield surpassed of the votes. Another 1% of votes were non-transferable. After spending couple of months as a

, he lost his position in the MEP elections by 4,982 votes, amounting to 3.67% of Labour votes, or 1.96% of the total votes.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedingfield, Glenn 1974 births Living people Maltese Roman Catholics Maltese journalists Maltese people of British descent Labour Party (Malta) MEPs MEPs for Malta 2004–2009 People from Pietà, Malta 20th-century Maltese politicians 21st-century Maltese politicians