Toby Perkins was first elected as the Labour MP for Chesterfield in 2010, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 1,451.
He currently serves as the shadow minister for rural affairs in Labour’s environment, food and rural affairs team.
Chesterfield is a densely populated constituency focussed around the town itself in the north western corner of Derbyshire. The town is well known for its crooked spire. The Liberal Democrats gained Chesterfield for a period between 2001 and 2010, but in 2019 they fell back into fourth place here behind the Brexit Party and the Conservatives. Some three fifths of voters backed Leave in the 2016 EU referendum. For more than two decades, the constituency was represented in Parliament by the leading left wing Labour politician Tony Benn.
Prior to Keir Starmer’s September 2023 reshuffle, Perkins served as the Shadow Minister for Apprenticeships and Lifelong Learning, having been appointed to the role in 2020.
Perkins has also served as the shadow minister for small business (2011 – 2015) and shadow minister for the armed forces (2015 – 2016).
Toby Perkins was born in 1970. Before becoming an MP, he ran his own small business supplying rugby clothing. He previously played rugby union for Sheffield Tigers.
In 2016, he failed in his attempts to bring in a Private Members Bill to stop ‘God Save the Queen’ being played as the anthem of English sports teams.
Perkins served on Chesterfield Council between 2003 and 2010. Perkins was also a Director in a social enterprise providing nursery care to deprived areas within Chesterfield.
He resigned from the Labour front bench in 2016, and supported Owen Smith in his 2016 challenge to Jeremy Corbyn.
In 2020 he supported Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.
Toby Perkins is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Tennis, and Deputy Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Beer. According to the Register of Members Interests, in 2021 he employed his partner, Amanda, as Executive Office Manager.
Email: toby.perkins.mp@parliament.uk
Personal Website: www.tobyperkins.org.uk
Twitter: @tobyperkinsmp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toby.perkins1
