Barry Gardiner
Barry Strachan Gardiner (born 10 March 1957) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent North since 1997. He is a member of the Labour Party.
Barry Gardiner MP | |||||||||||||||||||
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Official portrait, 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Landscape and Rural Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 May 2006 – 28 June 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jim Knight | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jonathan Shaw | ||||||||||||||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Delivery and Efficiency | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 10 May 2005 – 5 May 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Nigel Griffiths | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Office abolished | ||||||||||||||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 2 April 2004 – 10 May 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jane Kennedy | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jeff Rooker | ||||||||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament for Brent North | |||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 1 May 1997 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Rhodes Boyson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Majority | 8,079 (15.6%) | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Barry Strachan Gardiner 10 March 1957 Glasgow, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Caroline Anne Smith | ||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater |
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| Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||
The son of an Olympic footballer, Gardiner was born and educated in Glasgow before being moved to Hertfordshire to be educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College. After studying at the University of St Andrews, he worked in the Student Christian Movement and considered a career in the Episcopal Church. He then studied philosophy at Harvard University and researched the subject at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He was first elected to public office in Cambridge and became the youngest mayor of the city in 1992. Leaving local government in 1994, he worked in marine arbitration before being elected to Parliament at the 1997 general election.
Gardiner served in Tony Blair's New Labour government from April 2004 to June 2007 as a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Office, Department of Trade and Industry and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs respectively. After holding junior positions on the Official Opposition frontbench under Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn, Gardiner served in Corbyn's Shadow cabinet as Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary from June to July 2016. He subsequently served as Shadow International Trade Secretary and Shadow Minister for International Climate Change until returning to the backbenches in April 2020.