David Elliott Drew (born 13 April 1952) is a British politician who 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 Stroud from 1997 to 2010 and 2017 to 2019. A member of the

Labour and Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candida ...

parties, he was Shadow Minister for Farming and Rural Affairs from 2017 to 2019.

Early life and career

Drew was born in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, the son of an accountant, and educated at

Kingsfield School King's Oak Academy, formerly Kingsfield School and Kingswood Grammar School, is a Mathematics and Computing College located in Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, Kingswood in Bristol, England. The education authority Ofsted rated it as "good" in 2 ...

, Kingswood. He was awarded a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in economics at the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

in 1974, and qualified as a teacher after receiving his

Postgraduate Certificate in Education The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE/PGCertEd) is a one- or two-year higher education course in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which provides training in order to allow graduates to become teachers within maintained schools. In ...

from the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

in 1976. Drew gained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

in historical studies from

Bristol Polytechnic The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England. The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...

in 1988, and was awarded a

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum a ...

from the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England. The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...

in 1994. Drew began his teaching career at

Princethorpe College Princethorpe College is a Catholic independent day school located in Princethorpe, near Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Princethorpe College opened in September 1966 after the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSCs), purchased the site to use as ...

, Rugby in 1976 and moved to St Michael's School, Stevenage in 1978. He returned to Gloucestershire in 1982, teaching at Maidenhill School, Stonehouse, before working at Dene Magna Community School,

Mitcheldean Mitcheldean is a market town in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. History Mitcheldean was a thriving community for many centuries due to the town's proximity to iron ore deposits. During the 19th century, the town grew due to revenu ...

. Drew was a member of the

National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers The NASUWT is a TUC-affiliated trade union representing teachers, including headteachers, throughout the United Kingdom. The early years 1919–1976; breakaway and the formation of a new union The origins of the NASUWT can be traced back to ...

throughout his teaching career, serving as a branch secretary from 1984 to 1986. He became a senior lecturer in education at the University of West England in 1986, where he worked until his election to Parliament. Drew remains a member of the

University and College Union The University and College Union (UCU) is a British trade union in further and higher education representing over 120,000 academics and support staff. UCU is a vertical union representing casualised researchers and teaching staff, "permanent" ...

and has been a member of

UNISON In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

since 1990.

Political career

Drew briefly served on

Stevenage Borough Council Stevenage Borough Council is the local authority for the Stevenage non-metropolitan district of England, the United Kingdom. Stevenage is located in the north-east of Hertfordshire, in the East of England Regions of England, region. The Counci ...

for a year in 1981. He was a Member of

Stroud District Council Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Va ...

from 1987 to 1995 and

Gloucestershire County Council Gloucestershire County Council is a county council which administers the most strategic local government services in the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in the South West of England. The council's principal functions are county road ...

from 1992 to 1997. He was also elected to Stonehouse Town Council in 1987 and served as Stroud Constituency Labour Party secretary in 1992. Drew unsuccessfully contested Stroud at the 1992 general election, but defeated incumbent

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Roger Knapman Roger Maurice Knapman (born 20 February 1944) is a British politician who served as a Conservative MP before becoming Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). Early life The son of Harry Arthur Blackmore Knapman, a farmer, and Joan Margot n ...

at the 1997 general election. He increased his majority in 2001 and narrowly held the seat with a majority of 350 votes in 2005. Drew was defeated by Conservative Neil Carmichael at the 2010 general election. David drew

Drew made his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

on 17 June 1997. He was a member of the Agriculture Committee, later the

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 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 fo ...

, from 1999 to 2010. Drew returned to Stroud District Council at the 2011 local elections, elected to represent Farmhill and Paganhill ward. He unsuccessfully contested Stroud once again in 2015, but won the seat from Carmichael at the 2017 general election with a majority of 687 votes. Shortly after re-election, he was appointed to his first front bench role in July 2017, as Shadow Minister for Farming and Rural Affairs. He lost his seat to Conservative

Siobhan Baillie Siobhan Kathleen Baillie (born 28 August 1981) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Stroud (UK Parliament constituency), Stroud ...

at the 2019 general election, when he also faced a challenge from

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

candidate

Molly Scott Cato Sarah Margaret "Molly" Scott Cato (born 21 May 1963) is a British Green politician, economist and activist. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England from 2014 to 2020. From 2012, until her election as an M ...

. Drew defeated Scott Cato to win a seat on

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, and narrowly missed-out on election to Stroud District Council.

Political views

A member of the

Socialist Campaign Group The Socialist Campaign Group, officially the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs and also known as the Campaign Group, is a left-wing, democratic socialist grouping of the Labour Party's Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the ...

, Drew was considered a backbench rebel having voted against the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

and government anti-terror legislation. He nominated

John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. ...

in the 2007 Labour leadership election. Drew has been a staunch Eurosceptic, and welcomed an endorsement by Stroud's

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...

candidate at the 2010 general election. However, Drew gave a speech against

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 i ...

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

's deal to leave the EU in 2019, saying he feared

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

would "become one of the biggest domestic policy disasters this country has known."

Personal life

Drew married second wife Anne Baker in 1990, and has two daughters and two sons. He resides in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire and is a vegetarian. He was appointed Chairman of

Forest Green Rovers F.C. Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional association football, football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games ...

in May 2010, and later became Vice-Chairman. Drew resigned his role upon re-election to Parliament in 2017.

References

External links

David Drew on TwitterDavid Drew on FacebookLabour Party in StroudCore Politics - Interview with David Drew MP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drew, David 1952 births Living people Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2017–2019 Councillors in Gloucestershire Councillors in Hertfordshire Alumni of the University of Nottingham Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of the West of England, Bristol People from Stonehouse, Gloucestershire European democratic socialists English tax resisters Forest Green Rovers F.C. Labour Party (UK) councillors People educated at King's Oak Academy British Eurosceptics