Christopher Michael Leslie was born on 28 June 1972 and is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Shipley from 1997 to 2005 and Nottingham East from 2010 to 2019.
24 Facts About Chris Leslie
2.
Chris Leslie was a minister in the Department for Constitutional Affairs from 2001 to 2005 but lost his seat at the 2005 general election.
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Chris Leslie was director of the New Local Government Network think-tank from 2005 until being elected for Nottingham East at the 2010 general election.
4.
Between May and September 2015, Chris Leslie served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the shadow cabinet of acting Labour leader Harriet Harman.
5.
In February 2019, Chris Leslie left Labour alongside six other MPs in protest at the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn to form The Independent Group, later Change UK.
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Chris Leslie was born in Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, and attended Bingley Grammar School before becoming a student at the University of Leeds, graduating in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Parliamentary Studies.
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Chris Leslie was elected to Parliament a month before his 25th birthday.
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Chris Leslie gained the seat of Shipley as a Labour Co-operative candidate in the 1997 general election defeating Marcus Fox, the chairman of the Conservative 1922 Committee and Shipley's Conservative MP since 1970.
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Chris Leslie was the Baby of the House when he first entered the Commons, remaining so until June 2000 when David Lammy, three weeks Chris Leslie's junior, was elected.
10.
Chris Leslie was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lord Falconer for three-and-a-half years.
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Chris Leslie held his seat in 2001, but his majority was reduced by a half to 1,428.
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Chris Leslie then moved to spend almost two years as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Constitutional Affairs, working again under Falconer from 2003 to 2005.
13.
Chris Leslie never rebelled against a Government position during his first time in Parliament including voting in favour of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
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Chris Leslie led Gordon Brown's successful campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party in 2007.
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Chris Leslie returned to Parliament at the 2010 general election, representing Nottingham East.
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Chris Leslie supported Ed Balls for the leadership of the Labour Party during the 2010 leadership election following the resignation of Gordon Brown, voting for David Miliband as his second preference.
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Chris Leslie supported Yvette Cooper in the 2015 Labour leadership election, and was critical of the economic policies of Jeremy Corbyn, calling them "starry-eyed, hard left".
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On 12 September 2015, Chris Leslie resigned from the Labour front bench following the election of Corbyn as party leader.
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Chris Leslie is a supporter of Labour Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.
20.
In June 2018 Chris Leslie published a pamphlet through the Social Market Foundation, where he is a member of the Policy Advisory Board, entitled Centre Ground: Six Values of Mainstream Britain.
21.
In September 2018, Chris Leslie lost a vote of no confidence brought by his Constituency Labour Party and became the fourth Labour MP to have such a motion passed against him.
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Chris Leslie did not attend the vote and had earlier remarked that the party had been infiltrated by the "intolerant hard left".
23.
Chris Leslie continued to serve as a Change UK MP after six of its 11 MPs left the party in June 2019.
24.
In July 2020, Chris Leslie was appointed chief executive of the Credit Services Association, the trade association of the UK debt collection and purchase industry.