David Drew (politician)

Drew was born in Gloucestershire, the son of an accountant, and was educated at the Kingsfield School, Kingswood before attending the University of Nottingham where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1974 and the University of Birmingham where he qualified as a teacher and received his Postgraduate Certificate in Education in 1976. He studied for a master's degree at the Bristol Polytechnic, gaining an MA in historical studies in 1988. He was awarded a Master of Education from the University of the West of England in 1994.[2]

Drew began his professional career in education as a teacher at the Princethorpe College in Rugby, Warwickshire in 1976, moving in 1978 to teach at St Michael's School in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. In 1982, he moved back to his native Gloucestershire teaching at the Maidenhill School in Stonehouse, before moving to the Dene Magna Community School in Mitcheldean in the Forest of Dean. Throughout his teaching career he was a member of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, and was a branch secretary 1984–1986. In 1986, he became a senior lecturer in education at the University of West England, where he remained until his election to Westminster in 1997, and remains a member of the University and College Union.

Drew was elected as a councillor for the Stevenage Borough Council in Hertfordshire for a year in 1981, and was elected as a councillor for the Stroud District Council in 1987, where he served until 1995. He was also elected to the Stonehouse Town Council in 1987. To make the collection of tiers of local government complete, he was elected as a councillor on the Gloucestershire County Council in 1992, stepping down on his election to Parliament. He was elected as the secretary to the Stroud Constituency Labour Party for a year in 1992. He has also been a member of UNISON since 1990.

Drew first contested Stroud at the 1992 general election, moving Labour into second place ahead of the Liberal Democrat candidate, coming second to the incumbent Conservative, Roger Knapman, by 13,405 votes. However, he succeeded in taking the seat from Knapman at the 1997 general election with a majority of his own of 2,910 on +13.3 swing. Winning three successive elections he remained MP for Stroud until 2010.

Drew in 2009

Drew made his maiden speech on 17 June 1997.[3] He successfully defended his majority in 2001 general election, and retained it, but with a narrow majority of just 350, in the 2005 general election. In Parliament, he was a member of the Agriculture Select committee, and its successor Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee from 1999 until 2010.

Drew was identified by The Herald newspaper in Glasgow following the 2005 election as one of the more frequent Labour backbench rebels, having 'rebelled' over both the Iraq War and terror legislation during the 2001 parliament.[4] His staunch Eurosceptic stance was also at odds with the pro-European views of leading members of the New Labour government.[5] A member of the Socialist Campaign Group, he nominated John McDonnell in the 2007 Labour leadership election.[6][7]

During the 2010 general election, he lost by 1,299 votes (2.0%) to the Conservative Neil Carmichael who took 40.8% of the vote, with Liberal Democrat Dennis Andrewartha taking 15.4%.[8] Despite the loss, he actually managed to increase the number of votes he won compared to the 2005 election, as well as managing to obtain the smallest losing Labour swing in the whole of England.

In the 2011 local elections, Drew returned to Stroud District Council after being elected to the Farmhill and Paganhill seat, taking 63.9% of the vote.[9]

He stood as the Labour Co-operative candidate for Stroud at the 2015 general election, but failed to take the seat. He challenged Carmichael again at the 2017 general election and regained it with a 9.3% rise, securing a narrow majority of 687 over the Conservatives on a 77% voter turnout.[10] Following his return to the Commons, he was appointed as Shadow Farming and Rural Affairs Minister on 3 July 2017 by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.[11][12]

In February 2019, Drew gave a speech against Prime Minister Theresa May's deal to leave the EU, saying he feared Brexit would "become one of the biggest domestic policy disasters this country has known." He also compared it to the 2003 Iraq War as one of the country's biggest foreign policy disasters.[13] He subsequently lost his seat in the 2019 general election.[14]

Drew has been married to his second wife Anne Baker since 1990 and has two daughters and two sons. They live in Stonehouse. He has been a vegetarian for over 40 years.

He was appointed Chairman of Forest Green Rovers in May 2010, and later became Vice Chairman.[15] He resigned from the role upon his re-election to the Commons in June 2017.[16]

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• David Drew on Twitter, or @daviddrewMP
• David Drew on Facebook
• David Drew MP on Facebook - note as an MP
• Labour Party in Stroud
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: David Drew MP
• Core Politics - Interview with David Drew MP