Ben Spencer (politician)

Benjamin Walter Jack Spencer (11 December 1981),[2] is a psychiatrist and British Conservative Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament for Runnymede and Weybridge since 2019.

Ben Spencer
MP
Official portrait, 2020
Member of Parliament
for Runnymede and Weybridge
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byPhilip Hammond
Majority18,270 (34.3%)
Personal details
Born
Benjamin Walter Jack Spencer[1]

(1981-12-11) 11 December 1981
Liverpool, England
Political partyConservative
Children2
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life

Born in Liverpool, Spencer attended Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall and the Royal Free and University College London Medical School.

Medical career

Spencer specialised in General Adult Psychiatry and worked as both a consultant psychiatrist on a women's inpatient ward then later in HIV psychiatry. During his career he researched decision-making capacity in people with schizophrenia and received a PhD in Psychological Medicine, working within the health, Ethics and Law Research Group at King's College London.

Political career

Spencer sits in the Conservative safe seat of Runnymede and Weybridge. While his voting record shows him voting the same way as the vast majority of other Conservative MPs, he did vote against the Government's plans for COVID restrictions in November 2020, against the introduction of COVID passes in December 2021 and abstained on the Second Reading of the UK Internal Markets Bill in 2020.

Spencer has been successful in both Private Members Bill Ballots since his election. In 2020 he aimed to put forward the Mental Health Admissions (Data) Bill, however due to COVID and disruption to the Parliamentary schedule this was unable to proceed through the House. In 2021 Spencer introduced a second Private Member's Bill presenting his Planning (Enforcement) Bill to Parliament in June 2021. The Bill second reading took place on 19 November 2021 but was withdrawn with a view to incorporating the provisions in the forthcoming Planning Bill. He is currently a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee and COVID Recovery Group.

On 3rd November 2021 Spencer voted not to suspend Owen Patterson after he had been found guilty of paid lobbying by the Parliamentary Commitee on Standards. Spencer later claimed he regretted the decision after Patterson had resigned.

Personal life

Spencer lives in the constituency with his wife and two children. He has two cats called Frazzle and Ragnar.

References
  1. "No. 62862". The London Gazette. 20 December 2019. p. 23192.
  2. Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 317. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
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