21 Facts About Richard Burden

Richard Haines Burden was born on 1 September 1954 and is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield from 1992 to 2019.

Richard Burden served as a Shadow Transport Minister from 2013 to 2016 and again from 2016 to 2017.

Richard Burden attended the Wallasey Technical Grammar School; Bramhall Comprehensive School; St John's College of Further Education, Manchester; the University of York, where he obtained a degree in Politics and was the president of the Students' Union in 1976; and then the University of Warwick where he received a master's degree in Industrial Relations.

Richard Burden is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union which he joined in 1979.

Richard Burden contested the parliamentary seat of Meriden at the 1987 general election, where he was defeated by the sitting Conservative MP Iain Mills by a margin of 16,820.

Richard Burden was then selected to fight the Conservative-held marginal seat of Birmingham Northfield at the 1992 general election.

Richard Burden made his maiden speech on 19 May 1992.

Richard Burden was present at the meeting in Birmingham with the Labour government's leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown along with Tony Woodley on 8 April 2005 when the future of MG Rover was decided.

Richard Burden voted against his own Labour government on a few occasions, most notably on the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the 2005 anti-terror bill, which included a provision to hold terrorist suspects for 90 days without trial.

Richard Burden was re-elected at the May 2010 general election.

Richard Burden became Shadow Transport Minister under Ed Miliband in 2013, with responsibility for roads and road safety, motor agencies, cycling and future transport.

Richard Burden retained a Shadow Ministerial role under Jeremy Corbyn after he was elected as party leader in 2015.

Richard Burden resigned from this position following a vote of no confidence in Corbyn by members of the Parliamentary party, telling Corbyn he was "making a bad situation worse" by choosing to remain Labour leader.

Richard Burden supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.

Richard Burden rejoined the frontbench as Shadow Transport Minister in October 2016, with responsibility for aviation, maritime, roads and future transport.

Richard Burden stayed in this post until the 2017 general election, after which he stood down from the frontbench to join the International Development Committee.

Richard Burden was Chair of the Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group and frequently asked questions of ministers on issues relating to the Middle East conflict.

Richard Burden was one of the most prominent parliamentary critics of Israeli policy in the region, particularly with regard to its expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Richard Burden was Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Motor Group.

Richard Burden speaks French and is an avid motorsport fan.

In 2002 he became the special advisor to the Minister of Sport, Richard Burden Caborn, on motorsport.