Paul Bristow (born 27 March 1979) is a British politician who has served 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 ...
(MP) for
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
since the
2019 general election. A member of the
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 ...
, he worked as a
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
consultant and was the chairman of the lobbying trade body, the
Association of Professional Political Consultants
The Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC) is a United Kingdom organisation, established in 1994, that is the self-regulatory body that represents firms engaged in lobbying activities. APPC membership is open to public affairs fir ...
, prior to his parliamentary career. Bristow was also a councillor on
Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council
Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Hammersmith and Fu ...
between 2006 and 2010.
Early life
Bristow was born in 1979 in
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, North Yorkshire. His parents were both nurses.
[ His father Alan was also a Conservative Party district councillor.] Bristow grew up in Whittlesey
Whittlesey (also Whittlesea) is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England. Whittlesey is east of Peterborough. The population of the parish was 16,058 at the 2011 Census.
History and architecture
W ...
in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...
, where he had moved when he was five years old and attended Sir Harry Smith Community College. Bristow credits his school history teacher for fostering his interest in politics, and reports joining the Conservative Party at the age of 16. He studied History and Politics at Lancaster University
Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...
(Cartmel College) and previously worked as a parliamentary aide for former Conservative MP Richard Spring
Richard John Grenville Spring, Baron Risby (born 24 September 1946) is a former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury St Edmunds from 1992 to 1997, and for West Suffolk from 1997 to ...
.
Political career
In 2006, Bristow was elected to Hammersmith and Fulham Council
Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Hammersmith and F ...
as a councillor for Fulham Reach ward. He stood down from the council to contest the Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
-held seat of Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland at the 2010 general election, finishing in second place with 35.6% of the vote.
After returning to Peterborough, Bristow contested the 2019 Peterborough by-election
A by-election took place in the Parliamentary constituency of Peterborough on 6 June 2019. It was won by Lisa Forbes of the Labour Party. Mike Greene of the Brexit Party took second place.
The seat was vacant following the removal of the for ...
, finishing in third place behind Labour's Lisa Forbes and Brexit Party
Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was bri ...
candidate Mike Greene. At the 2019 general election, he won the seat with a majority of a majority of 2,580 votes. Before his parliamentary career, Bristow had been the chairman of the lobbying trade body, the Association of Professional Political Consultants
The Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC) is a United Kingdom organisation, established in 1994, that is the self-regulatory body that represents firms engaged in lobbying activities. APPC membership is open to public affairs fir ...
, between 2017 and 2019. He was also the director of the healthcare public relations consultancy PB Consulting which he had founded in 2010. He resigned his directorship in January 2020.[
Following his election to Parliament, Bristow became a member of the Health and Social Care Committee, serving from 2020 to 2022. He was appointed as a ]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 Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department f ...
Nadine Dorries
Nadine Vanessa Dorries (''née'' Bargery, 21 May 1957) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2021 to 2022 under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A member of the Conservative Party, she ...
in February 2022.
In April 2021, ''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' reported that Bristow claimed rental expenses of £10,500 between April and November 2020 for his constituency accommodation while renting out three residential properties in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Responding to the article, he stated that he had "followed both the letter and the spirit of the rules".
In November 2021, Bristow wrote an article in ''The Times'' calling for MPs to be banned from involvement in consultant lobbying. He initially supported Grant Shapps
Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who is serving as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since October 2022. He previously served as Secretary of State for Transport in the Premiership of Bo ...
in the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election
July is the seventh month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the fourth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. It was named by the Roman Senate in honour of Roman general Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., it being the mont ...
, after Shapps withdrew, Bristow endorsed Liz Truss
Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped down ...
.
In October 2022, following the resignation of Truss as Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, Bristow announced that he would be supporting previous Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
in the subsequent leadership election
A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party.
Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...
.
Personal life
Bristow is a supporter of York City F.C.
York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league ...
He is married and has two daughters. His wife Sara (née Petela) is a public relations consultant and has been the managing director of Healthcomms Consulting since January 2020 and Politicomms Consulting since November 2020.[ Healthcomms Consulting specialises in healthcare and health technology and was founded by Bristow in 2010 under its previous name, PB Consulting. He resigned his directorship in January 2020, handing control to his wife.] His sister-in-law Emma is a director of the public relations consultancy, GK Strategy.
In August 2021, Bristow was given a 28-day driving ban after speeding on the A1. He requested the ban to avoid "any suggestion of hypocrisy" when campaigning about "speeding on residential streets" in Peterborough.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bristow, Paul
1979 births
Living people
Politicians from York
UK MPs 2019–present
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Councillors in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Alumni of Lancaster University
Alumni of Cartmel College, Lancaster