Karen Bradley

The Right Honourable
Karen Bradley
MP
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Assumed office
8 January 2018
Prime Minister Theresa May
Preceded by James Brokenshire
Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Culture, Media and Sport (2016–2017)
In office
14 July 2016 – 8 January 2018
Prime Minister Theresa May
Preceded by John Whittingdale
Succeeded by Matthew Hancock
Minister for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime
In office
8 February 2014 – 14 July 2016
Prime Minister David Cameron
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Sarah Newton
Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In office
7 October 2013 – 8 February 2014
Prime Minister David Cameron
Preceded by Robert Goodwill
Succeeded by John Penrose
Member of Parliament
for Staffordshire Moorlands
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Charlotte Atkins
Majority 10,830 (24.2%)
Personal details
Born Karen Anne Howarth
(1970-03-12) 12 March 1970[1]
Newcastle-under-Lyme, England, UK
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Neil Bradley
Children 2
Alma mater Imperial College London
Website Official website

Karen Anne Bradley[2] MP (née Howarth, born 12 March 1970) is a British Conservative Party politician and former tax consultant. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Staffordshire Moorlands since the 2010 general election.[3][4] She has held several ministerial positions and, since 8 January 2018, she has served as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Early life and career

Bradley was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme.[5] Her family moved to Buxton and she was educated at the local comprehensive, Buxton Girls' School and Imperial College London, graduating with a BSc in Mathematics.[6]

In 1991, Bradley joined Deloitte & Touche and became a tax manager, and after seven years she became a senior tax manager with KPMG. In 2004 she set up business as a fiscal and economic consultant before rejoining KPMG in 2007, where she remained until her election to the House of Commons.[7]

Bradley contested Manchester Withington at the 2005 general election, coming third.

Parliamentary career

Bradley was a member of the Conservative Party's A-List and was selected for Staffordshire Moorlands in July 2006.[8] She was elected as the constituency's member of parliament at the 2010 general election.[4]

Following her election to Parliament in 2010, Bradley was a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee from 2010, and in May 2012 was elected co-secretary of the backbench 1922 Committee.[9] She relinquished these positions on her appointment to the Government Whips' Office in September 2012. In February 2014, she was promoted to the Home Office as a junior minister. In July 2016, she was appointed as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in Theresa May's first cabinet.

During the cabinet reshuffle in 2018, Bradley was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland after the resignation of James Brokenshire due to ill health. Matt Hancock replaced her as Culture Secretary. In July 2018 she came under fire in the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee for failing to take action on British government discrimination against former soldiers and police. Andrew Murrison challenged her on her account of what she had done, and she said she would write to him. Sylvia Hermon commented “I wait and wait for letters”.[10]

Controversy

In late November 2016, she was severely criticised for vetoing the appointment of a 'high calibre' black female candidate (Althea Efunshile, a former deputy chief of Arts Council England) as a non-executive director on the board of the state-owned broadcaster, Channel 4, while confirming the appointment of the other four candidates, all white men. This action led to a letter of complaint being sent to her by a cross-party group of MPs.[11][12] On 12 December 2017, the government announced that it had appointed Althea Efunshile as one of four new non-executive directors on the Channel 4 board.[13]

In September 2018 she was criticised for admitting in an interview[14] for House magazine, a weekly publication for the Houses of Parliament, that she had not understood Northern Irish politics before being appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. “I didn’t understand things like when elections are fought, for example, in Northern Ireland – people who are nationalists don’t vote for unionist parties and vice versa,” she said.

Personal life

Bradley is married to Neil Bradley. They have two sons.[6] She is a fan of Manchester City Football Club.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Karen Bradley MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. ↑ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8745.
  3. ↑ "Staffordshire Moorlands District Council election results". Archived from the original on 13 June 2011.
  4. 1 2 Elections 2010: Karen Bradley takes Staffordshire Moorlands with 6,700 majority Archived 10 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine. on ThisIsStaffordshire.co.uk
  5. ↑ "Who's Who". ukwhoswho.com. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Karen Bradley". conservatives.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  7. ↑ "Karen Bradley MP". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "Where are the original A-Listers now? The 18 who have been selected for Conservative seats". Conservative Home. 21 April 2009. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  9. ↑ "New faces elected on to influential Conservative 1922 committee". BBC News. Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Sweney, Mark (29 November 2016). "BME woman blocked from Channel 4 board as four white men join". Archived from the original on 30 November 2016 – via The Guardian.
  12. ↑ Sweney, Mark (5 December 2016). "Black woman vetoed for Channel 4 job was Arts Council England deputy chief". Archived from the original on 6 December 2016 – via The Guardian.
  13. ↑ Sweney, Mark (12 December 2017). "Althea Efunshile joins Channel 4 board after government U-turn". Archived from the original on 12 December 2017 – via The Guardian.
  14. ↑
  15. ↑ "Is there more to Karen Bradley than a love of crime fiction?". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. 14 July 2016. Archived from the original on 11 November 2016 – via WebArchive.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Charlotte Atkins		 Member of Parliament
for Staffordshire Moorlands
2010–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
John Whittingdale		 Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
2016–2018		 Succeeded by
Matthew Hancock
Preceded by
James Brokenshire		 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
2018–present		 Incumbent
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom,
Preceded by
Penny Mordaunt		 Ladies
Secretary of State 		Followed by
Esther McVey
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