Ben Bradshaw attended the University of Freiburg in Germany while an undergraduate.
34 Facts About Ben Bradshaw
2.
Between 1982 and 1983, Ben Bradshaw taught English at the Technikum, a school of technology in Winterthur in the Zurich canton of Switzerland.
3.
Ben Bradshaw won the Sony News Reporter Award in 1993.
4.
Ben Bradshaw was selected to contest the marginal parliamentary seat of Exeter at the 1997 general election after the first choice candidate was deselected by the local Labour party on instructions from Labour party headquarters.
5.
The result was not close, and Ben Bradshaw was elected as the Labour MP for Exeter with a majority of 11,705.
6.
Ben Bradshaw made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 4 July 1997.
7.
Ben Bradshaw was the second British MP who was openly gay at the time of first election, 21 minutes after Stephen Twigg.
8.
Ben Bradshaw became a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State at the Department of Health John Denham in 2000.
9.
On 6 March 2002, while answering Parliamentary Questions, Ben Bradshaw accused George Galloway of "being not just an apologist but a mouthpiece for the Iraqi regime over many years".
10.
Galloway responded by accusing Ben Bradshaw of being a liar, though after a suspension of the Commons sitting, both men withdrew their comments.
11.
Ben Bradshaw became the Deputy to the Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook in 2002, and was an Under Secretary of State at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2003 until 2006, when he was made a Minister of State at the same department.
12.
In 2003, Ben Bradshaw supported government's stance on Iraq and voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
13.
In 2005, Ben Bradshaw supported the detention of terror suspects without trial and voted for the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005.
14.
Ben Bradshaw was the subject of controversy while Minister for Health.
15.
Ben Bradshaw claimed that GPs were operating "gentlemen's agreements" to ensure patients didn't move between surgeries, claims dismissed as "absolute nonsense" by doctors' leaders.
16.
Ben Bradshaw was criticised for defending car parking fees at NHS hospitals at a time when Wales was removing parking fees.
17.
Ben Bradshaw has said claims made about his expenses were factually wrong.
18.
Ben Bradshaw held this position until the 2010 general election and served as Shadow Culture Secretary until the 2010 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election.
19.
In 2011, Ben Bradshaw voted for the NATO-led military intervention in Libya.
20.
Ben Bradshaw later gained the minimum 35 nominations required to stand in the ballot with the other candidates.
21.
Ben Bradshaw is a former critic of Jeremy Corbyn, whom he accused in a September 2016 article of being a "destructive combination of incompetence, deceit and menace".
22.
Ben Bradshaw supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.
23.
However, Ben Bradshaw later changed his position on Jeremy Corbyn, praising his 2017 election performance.
24.
Ben Bradshaw claimed during a Commons debate in December 2016 that it is "highly probable" that the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum was manipulated by Vladimir Putin.
25.
Ben Bradshaw saw this as fitting a pattern of interfering in the business of other nations after the CIA accused Russian hackers of trying to influence US elections.
26.
Ben Bradshaw maintains that the Russians sent him an e-mail with sophisticated malware and maintains this was a cyberattack.
27.
In October 2019, Ben Bradshaw attracted controversy for saying that Michael Gove had been heckled by cries of "humbug" and "nonsense" at an event held by the German embassy.
28.
On 3 February 2022, Ben Bradshaw announced he would not be standing in the next general election.
29.
In 2009, Ben Bradshaw won the Stonewall Politician of the Year Award in 2009 for his work to support equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
30.
Ben Bradshaw was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council in 2009, giving him the right to the honorific prefix "The Right Honourable".
31.
Ben Bradshaw is a member of the Henry Jackson Society Advisory Council.
32.
On 24 June 2006, Ben Bradshaw and his partner Neal Dalgleish, who is a BBC producer, registered a civil partnership.
33.
Ben Bradshaw was one of the first MPs to do so, and he was the first Cabinet Minister to be in a civil partnership.
34.
Ben Bradshaw's brother is Jonathan Ben Bradshaw, CBE, Professor Emeritus of Social policy at the University of York.