Paul Brannen
Member of the European Parliament
for North East England
In office
1 July 2014 – 1 July 2019
Preceded byFiona Hall
Succeeded byJohn Tennant
Personal details
Born13 September 1962 (1962-09-13) (age 61)
Peterborough, United Kingdom
Political partyLabour
Alma materUniversity of Leeds

Paul Brannen (born 13 September 1962) is a British Labour Party politician. He is a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the North East England region: he was elected in 2014 and lost his seat in 2019.

Early life

Brannen was brought up in Tyneside, North East England.[1] He attended the University of Leeds, where he studied theology and religious studies. Being involved in student politics, he became President of the Leeds University Union.[2] Brannen also holds an MBA from Durham University Business School.[3]

Early career

After university, Brannen worked as a campaigns officer for the Anti-Apartheid Movement, leading the campaign against executions by the apartheid government in South Africa.[4] He famously interrupted a press conference being held by Mike Gatting to announce his plans to lead a rebel cricket tour to South Africa in breach of the international sporting boycott.[5] He was a press officer for the Labour Party from 1991 to 1992. He then moved to Christian Aid, where he was head of campaigns from 1992 to 1997. He led campaigns on poverty and, more recently, climate change.[4]

Political career and activism

Brannen served five years as a Councillor on Newcastle City Council. He has twice stood for election as a Member of Parliament; for Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1997, and for Hexham in 2001.[2] He was unsuccessful at both elections having come second.[2][6]

European Parliament

Brannen stood in the 2014 European Parliament election as a Labour Party candidate for the North East England region.[7] With Labour having won the most votes in the region, he was elected a Member of the European Parliament.[8] On 1 July 2014, he was elected to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.[9]

He supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Paul Brannen - Christian Aid". NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE. Newcastle University. 2013. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "About Paul Brannen". PaulBrannen.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Brannen, Paul". Who's Who. Vol. 2021 (December 2015 online ed.). A & C Black. Retrieved 27 July 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ a b "Brannen, Paul, (born 13 Sept. 1962), Director of Public Affairs, European Confederation of Woodworking Industries and European Organisation of Sawmill Industry, since 2020". Who's Who 2023. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  5. ^ "European Parliament elections 2019: Who you can vote for in the North-East and how it works". The Northern Echo. 23 May 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Paul Brannen: Electoral history and profile". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Labour and UKIP claim victory in North East Euro vote". BBC News. 25 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  8. ^ "North East". Vote 2014. BBC News. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  9. ^ "Home | MEPs | European Parliament". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  10. ^ Smith, Mikey; Bloom, Dan (20 July 2016). "Which MPs are nominating Owen Smith in the Labour leadership contest?". Mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 10 November 2018.

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