37 Facts About Barry Gardiner

Barry Strachan Gardiner was born on 10 March 1957 and is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament for Brent North from 1997 until the seat's abolition in 2024 and Brent West since 2024.

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.

Barry Gardiner then studied philosophy at Harvard University and researched the subject at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Barry Gardiner was first elected to public office in Cambridge and became the youngest mayor of the city in 1992.

Barry 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.

Barry Gardiner subsequently served as Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade and Shadow Minister for International Climate Change until returning to the backbenches in April 2020.

Barry Gardiner, the son of Olympic footballer John Gardiner, was born in Glasgow, Scotland.

Barry Gardiner's mother trained as a surgeon and was the first woman to win the gold medal for surgery at the University of Glasgow.

Barry Gardiner was educated at the independent High School of Glasgow and Haileybury and Imperial Service College in Hertfordshire.

Barry Gardiner received an undergraduate Master of Arts from the University of St Andrews before serving for two years as full-time Scottish Regional Secretary of the Student Christian Movement.

In 1983, Barry Gardiner was awarded a Kennedy Memorial Trust scholarship to study philosophy at Harvard University under John Rawls, returning to conduct doctoral research at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge for three years from 1984.

Barry Gardiner was elected as a councillor to Cambridge City Council in 1988 becoming Mayor of Cambridge in 1992, the youngest mayor in the city's 800-year history.

Barry Gardiner contested the Greater London constituency of Brent North at the 1997 general election, defeating the incumbent Conservative MP Rhodes Boyson by 4,019 votes.

Barry Gardiner made his maiden speech on 4 July 1997.

Barry Gardiner served on the Procedure Committee, the Select Committee on Broadcasting, the Public Accounts Committee and the Joint Committee on Consolidation of Bills.

Barry Gardiner was Chair of the PLP Departmental Committee for Culture, Media and Sport and vice-chair of the PLP Departmental Committee for the Treasury.

Barry Gardiner was the Chairman of the Labour Friends of India, and has lectured at the Academy of National Economy in Moscow.

Barry Gardiner is a former vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel and remains a member.

Barry Gardiner became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Minister of State at the Home Office Beverley Hughes in 2002.

Barry Gardiner moved to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in a May 2006 reshuffle and left the Government in June 2007, to serve as a PPS, this time to the Business Secretary.

Barry Gardiner left this role "by mutual consent" on 13 September 2008 after joining other Labour MPs in declaring an MP should stand against Brown, accusing him of "vacillation, loss of international credibility and timorous political manoeuvres that the public cannot understand".

Barry Gardiner claimed for a second home, despite his constituency being near Westminster.

Barry Gardiner was re-elected at the 2010 general election with a majority of 8,028 votes.

Barry Gardiner nominated David Miliband in the 2010 Labour Party leadership election.

Between 2011 and 2013, Barry Gardiner served as Ed Miliband's Special Envoy for Environment and Climate Change.

Barry Gardiner was appointed as Shadow Minister for Natural Environment and Fisheries in July 2013.

Barry Gardiner gave his support in 2014 to the first annual Hen Harrier Day demonstrations in Derbyshire to highlight the illegal persecution of UK raptors.

When Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party in September 2015, Barry Gardiner moved to becoming Shadow Minister for the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Barry Gardiner supported the development of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, rejecting criticism of Chinese involvement in the project despite military and intelligence figures warning ministers that such involvement posed a threat to national security.

In October 2017, Barry Gardiner became involved in a complaint by Boeing to the US Department of Commerce.

In January 2020, Barry Gardiner received India's Padma Shri award for his work in the field of public affairs.

Barry Gardiner endorsed Rebecca Long-Bailey in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.

Barry Gardiner said the son was hired via an open recruitment process and was appointed on merit.

The Times said Barry Gardiner generally took a pro-Beijing position in his shadow portfolio dealings, but the donations were disclosed and there was no suggestion of impropriety on Barry Gardiner's part.

Barry Gardiner wrote a letter saying the amounts he received were used to fund researchers and Lee had no influence in the appointment or management of these individuals.

Barry Gardiner was portrayed by Kevin McMonagle in the 2024 Amazon Prime Video drama series A Very Royal Scandal.

Barry Gardiner is married to Caroline Anne Smith and has employed her as an office manager and executive secretary.