Chris Leslie

Chris Leslie
Official portrait, 2017
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
11 May 2015 – 12 September 2015
LeaderHarriet Harman (acting)
Preceded byEd Balls
Succeeded byJohn McDonnell
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office
7 October 2013 – 11 May 2015
LeaderEd Miliband
Preceded byRachel Reeves
Succeeded byShabana Mahmood
Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office
8 October 2010 – 7 October 2013
LeaderEd Miliband
Preceded byStephen Timms
Succeeded byShabana Mahmood
Ministerial offices
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs
In office
13 June 2003 – 5 May 2005
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byBridget Prentice
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Regeneration and Regional Development
In office
29 May 2002 – 13 June 2003
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byNick Raynsford[a]
Succeeded byYvette Cooper
Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office
In office
11 June 2001 – 29 May 2002
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byGraham Stringer
Succeeded byDouglas Alexander
Parliamentary offices
Member of Parliament
for Nottingham East
In office
6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byJohn Heppell
Succeeded byNadia Whittome
Member of Parliament
for Shipley
In office
1 May 1997 – 11 April 2005
Preceded byMarcus Fox
Succeeded byPhilip Davies
Personal details
Born
Christopher Michael Leslie

(1972-06-28) 28 June 1972 (age 52)
Keighley, England
Political partyIndependent (since 2019)
Other political
affiliations
Change UK (2019)
Labour and Co-operative (until 2019)
SpouseNicola Murphy
Alma materUniversity of Leeds
WebsiteOfficial website
Other offices

Christopher Michael Leslie (born 28 June 1972) is a British business executive and former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shipley from 1997 to 2005 and Nottingham East from 2010 to 2019. A former member of the Labour Party, he defected to form Change UK and later became an independent politician.

Born in Keighley, Leslie was educated at Bingley Grammar School and graduated from the University of Leeds with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Parliamentary Studies and a Master of Arts in Industrial and Labour Studies. After working as an office administrator and political researcher, he was elected to Parliament for Shipley aged 24 at the 1997 general election.

Leslie was a minister in the Department for Constitutional Affairs from 2001 to 2005 but lost his seat at the 2005 general election. He was director of the New Local Government Network think-tank from 2005 until being elected for Nottingham East at the 2010 general election.

Between May and September 2015, Leslie served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the shadow cabinet of acting Labour leader Harriet Harman. In 2018, he lost a motion of no confidence by his constituency party. In February 2019, Leslie left Labour alongside six other MPs in protest at the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn to form The Independent Group, later Change UK.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).