Minister for International Development

About Stephen

Stephen was first elected the Conservative MP for Eddisbury at the by-election on 22nd July 1999. He regards representing his electors as his primary job and holds regular, well attended surgeries.
In the new Coalition government he is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, International Development. His particular responsibility is for Africa. Foe many years Stephen has campaigned passionately for the elimination of malaria and other easily preventable diseases.

He has been a Shadow Minister for Health. From May to December 2005, he served as the Shadow Minister for Skills. From November 2003 to 2005, was Shadow Secretary of State for Industry. Previously, he held the post of Shadow Minister for the Treasury.

Before that, he was appointed an Opposition Whip in September 2001. From September 2000 to September 2001, he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chairman of the Conservative Party, the Rt Hon Michael Ancram QC MP. From February to September 2000, he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Francis Maude MP. Stephen has also served as a member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Employment and on the Education sub-Committee.

In addition, he has served as Secretary of the Conservative Northern Ireland Committee and Secretary of the Conservative Trade & Industry Committee.

In 2001, he was appointed an Associate of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body. In 2000 he was elected Vice Chairman of the All Party Groups on Tanzania and Uganda and is joint Treasurer of the All Party Jubilee 2000 Group (third world debt relief).

In 2000, Stephen introduced a Private Member's Bill for honesty in Food Labelling (country of origin and standards of production).

Between 1995 and 1999, Stephen was Chairman of the Public and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of BMP (National Council of Building Materials Producers, latterly the Construction Products Association) and sat on BMP's Committee of Management and Strategy sub-committee. He was a trade member of the 1994 mission to Argentina and Brazil with the Rt Hon Sir Richard Needham MP (Minister for Trade). Stephen was elected member of the South East Regional Council of the CBI between 1995 and 1998, sitting on the CBI's International Investment Committee and Working Parties on Anti-Corruption (pan-European) and Corporate Governance (UK).

A life outside politics

Stephen is married to Gemma, a nurse. They have three children, James, Angus and Clara, and live near Tarporley in the constituency. Stephen and his family were on the Countryside March on 1st March 1998

He qualified as a Solicitor in 1983 and practised until 1988 at solicitors Freshfields (City of London).

From 1988 to 1998, Stephen was Group Company Secretary and Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs together with directorships and management positions in many of the Group's in the UK and overseas operations at Redland PLC, the FTSE-100 global building materials producer (acquired by Lafarge SA in early 1998). In 1998, he established his own international business consultancy specialising in corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions.

Between 1992 and 1999 he served as a syndic (non-executive director) of the Cambridge University Careers Service.

Contact Details:

Email: obriens@parliament.uk
Website: http://www.eddisburyconservatives.co.uk
Telephone: 01829 733243 (Constituency) or 0207 219 6315 (Westminster)