Shaun Bailey
Quick Facts
Biography
Shaun Stephen Bailey (born 22 July 1992) is a British Conservative Party politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich West at the 2019 general election.
Early Life
Raised in Newport, Shropshire, in a single-parent family. Bailey's mother is a survivor of domestic abuse.Bailey notes his mother's experience of raising him and his younger sister, working multiple jobs and studying as the driving force behind why he entered politics; noting in his maiden speech that his mother taught him "If you work, you dream and you believe you can achieve anything"
Bailey attended the Burton Borough School in Newport, Shropshire before studying for his A-Levels at Idsall School in Shifnal, Shropshire.
Bailey obtained an Entrance Scholarship to read Law and French at Aberystwyth University, graduating with an LLB, spending a year reading French Law at the University of Rennes 1 in Rennes,Brittany.
He began study for an LLM at the same institution but did not complete.
Bailey is in the process of completing a Masters in Legal Practice at the University of the West of England in Bristol.
Prior to his election, Bailey worked as a trainee solicitor for Barclays Bank PLC.
Political Experience
Bailey joined the Conservative Party aged 16. He has held a number of positions in the voluntary wing of the party including; Secretary of the Ceredigion Conservative Association, Deputy Chairman (Political) of Conservative Future Wales and Deputy Chairman of The Wrekin Conservative Association.
Bailey has stood for local government a number of times.
He stood to be the Councillor for the Borth ward on Ceredigion County Council in the 2012 Ceredigion County Council election. Bailey then stood to be a Councillor in Cheltenham, standing in the Hesters Way ward for the 2016 Cheltenham Borough Council election and for the Hesters Way and Springbank division in the 2017 Gloucestershire County Council election.
Bailey became a Parish Councillor for the Chetwynd Aston ward on Chetwynd Aston and Woodcote Parish Council, in Shropshire, in May 2019.
Parliamentary Career
Bailey was selected as the Conservative Party's Candidate for the historically Labour seat of West Bromwich West in November 2019.
Bailey won the seat in the 2019 UK General Election overturning a Labour majority of 4,460 and replacing it with a Conservative majority of 3,799 and taking over 50% of the vote.
The seat, which was once held by former Speaker of the House of Commons (UK), Betty Boothroyd has never had a Conservative Member of Parliament until Bailey's election.
In Parliament, he is a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
He is also a member of the Blue Collar Conservativism Caucus, a group which is focused on championing and empowering working class communities.