STEPHEN LADYMAN

Dr 'Stephen John Ladyman' (born November 6, 1952 in Lancashire) is a British politician, and Labour Party member of Parliament for South Thanet.

Contents

Early life

Political career

Trivia

Personal life

External links

Early life

He went to school at the Birkenhead Institute Boys Grammar School.
He studied at Liverpool Polytechnic, receiving a BSc in Applied Biology. He did work placements at Rothampsted Experimental Station in Harpenden and at Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Liverpool. He studied for a PhD awarded by the University of Strathclyde for researching natural isotopic abundances of elements to enable prediction of soil development when at the Natural Environment Research Council's radiocarbon laboratory, in the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre, East Kilbride. He worked as a research scientist for the Medical Research Council (MRC) Radiobiology Unit at Harwell in Oxfordshire from 1979-85, where he researched the removal of radionuclides from lung tissue. He was Head of Computing for the Mathilda and Terence Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in Charing Cross (now owned by Imperial College) from 1985-90, building computer systems for the Kennedy Institute (also part of Hammersmith Hospital), the Arthritis and Rheumatism Research Council and Charing Cross Sunley Research Centre. From 1990-1, he was an IT consultant at Pfizer Central Research in Sandwich, south Thanet, where Viagra was discovered, advising research scientists on the design of computer systems. From 1991-7, he became Head of Computer User Support. From 1995-9, Ladyman became a Thanet councillor and was appointed as Chairman of Finance.

Political career

He contested the Wantage constituency in June 1987, when 34. He was elected to Parliament in the United Kingdom general election, 1997, defeating Jonathan Aitken. He was a junior minister at the Department for Health from June 2003 until May 2005, when he was appointed Minister of State for Transport. He won his 2005 seat with a majority of 664 votes, even with Nigel Farage reducing the Conservative vote by 2,000. He later resigned as transport minister in 2007 following Tony Blair's resignation.

Trivia

★ When Transport Minister, he appeared on ''Top Gear'' for the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment. He revealed himself to be a fan of cars, and admitted to having received several speeding fines and a total of nine penalty points. The minister displayed a passion for fast cars including having owned an Alfa Romeo and turning out an exceptional lap time on the ''Top Gear'' test track. He set a time of 1:48.8, faster than Jeremy Clarkson's own time of 1:50. [1]

Personal life

He married Janet Baker and has one daughter, one step-daughter and two step-sons.

External links

★ Dr Stephen Ladyman MP official site

★ Department for Transport - Dr Stephen Ladyman MP

★ Voting record at the Public Whip

★ Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Stephen Ladyman MP

★ TheyWorkForYou.com - Stephen Ladyman MP

★ BBC Politics profile

★ Interviewed on The Westminster Hour about saving the planet

★ 2005 campaign