Pat McFadden - Who is he? - Politics.co.uk

Pat McFadden was first elected as the Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East in 2005, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 1,235.

McFadden serves as the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, having been moved to the Cabinet Office brief from his post of shadow chief secretary to the Treasury in Keir Starmer’s 2023 reshuffle.

He is also Labour’s National Campaign Coordinator.

McFadden’s constituency of Wolverhampton South East in the West Midlands covers the outskirts of the city of Wolverhampton and the former steel town of Bilston. Although this area of England, including the other two Wolverhampton seats have turned to the Conservatives in recent years, the South East of Wolverhampton has resisted these advances. This is an ethnically diverse seat in which there are large Asian, black, and mixed race communities. It is a relatively small seat in terms of electoral size, and one where electoral turnout (53% in 2019) is amongst the lowest in the country. This seat has been held by Labour ever since the Second World War.

In November 2021, McFadden was appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the Shadow Cabinet. He was previously shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury between 2020 and 2021.

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He previously served in the last Labour government. In 2006 he was made Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Cabinet Office, and in 2007 he was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

He previously served as Shadow Minister of Europe between 2014 and 2016.

Born in 1965, McFadden grew up in Glasgow and studied politics at Edinburgh University. He was Chair of Scottish Labour Students between 1986 ad 1987.

McFadden is something of a professional politician. After leaving university he worked as researcher in 1988 for Donald Dewar, then Labour’s Scottish Affairs spokesman. In 1993 he left this role to become a speechwriter and policy adviser to the Labour leader John Smith. Prior to becoming an MP he worked in several roles for Tony Blair, both in opposition and government, and was the Prime Minister’s Political Secretary from 2002.

Unsurprisingly given his previous role with Tony Blair, McFadden is considered to be on the right of the Labour Party. He backed Jess Phillips in the 2020 Labour leadership election, having supported Owen Smith in his 2016 challenge against Jeremy Corbyn.

He backed David Miliband and Liz Kendall in the 2010 and 2015 contests. He was generally seen as being strongly pro-European.

McFadden is a Celtic football fan. He is married with two children.

Pat McFadden is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia. He is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Sikhs.