Christopher Leslie

Labour MP Shipley

Date of birth

28 June 1972

Political profile

Christopher Leslie achieved one of the most unexpected results of the 1997 election when he defeated Tory grandee Sir Marcus Fox in Shipley to enter the Commons at the age of 24.

He fought a highly local campaign and has carried on in a similar vein in the Commons, where he has concentrated on issues such as Shipley's relief road and on increasing the level of government funding for regional public services.

He joined the government as parliamentary private secretary to Lord Falconer in 1998 and later became an unpaid junior Cabinet Office minister after the 2001 general election.

In the reshuffle following the departure of Stephen Byers, he joined the paid ranks of ministers as a parliamentary under-secretary at the newly formed Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

In June 2003 he moved again, becoming a minister at the new Department of Constitutional Affairs.

Contact

[e-mail]

Constituency office 01274 401300