William Roffen Esterson (born 27 October 1966) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as

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 o ...

(MP) for Sefton Central since

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. He has been Shadow Minister for International Trade since 2016. He was Shadow Minister for Small Business from 2015 to 2020.

Education and early life

Esterson attended Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School in

Rochester, Kent Rochester ( ) is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about from London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rainham, Strood and Gil ...

. He holds a joint degree in

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. He trained with a large accountancy firm and subsequently became director of a training consultancy.

Career

Prior to being elected as an MP, he was the Labour Councillor for River Ward in

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to ...

, a unitary authority in Kent. When Medway Council was created in 1997, Esterson was elected to represent Town Ward. He represented Town Ward until 2003, when boundary changes were implemented. He was a previous councillor for St Margaret's and Borstal ward on Rochester-upon-Medway City Council which was dissolved to form Medway Council. He has served on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Education; Community and Local Government; and Treasury Select Committees. Esterson contributed to the Hillsborough debate in the House of Commons on 17 October 2011 by reading directly the words of a bereaved father. In September 2011 he contributed to the book ''What next for Labour? Ideas for a new generation'', his piece was entitled ''A Campaigning Party''. In January 2015, Esterson proposed a bill which would introduce compulsory labelling of alcoholic drinks warning about potential dangers from drinking during pregnancy. He was made Shadow Minister for Small Business following

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialis ...

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...

as Leader of the Labour Party in September 2015. However, he supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Corbyn in the 2016 leadership election. In October 2016, he was made Shadow Minister for International Trade. Esterson endorsed

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras s ...

in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election. After Starmer's victory in the contest, Esterson was stood down as Shadow Small Business Minister but reappointed as Shadow International Trade Minister. He became Shadow Minister for Business and Industry as part of Starmer's shadow cabinet reshuffle.

Personal life

Esterson is married with two children.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Esterson, Bill 1966 births Living people Alumni of the University of Leeds Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Politicians from Manchester People educated at Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School