Daniel Zeichner



Daniel Stephen Zeichner (born 9 November 1956) was elected in the 2015 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cambridge, replacing the Liberal Democrat Julian Huppert. Before entering Parliament, Zeichner was a councillor for eight years.

Political career
Zeichner has served several terms on Labour's National Policy Forum, the Labour Party’s top policy-making body. He was first elected to represent the East of England on the body shortly after it was first established by Tony Blair as part of the 'Partnership in Power' process.

Zeichner was elected as a councillor in Burston, Norfolk, in 1995, a position in which he would serve until 2003. During this time, Zeichner became leader of the Labour group on South Norfolk District Council.

Zeichner stood unsuccessfully for Parliament four times. He contested Mid Norfolk first in 1997, losing by fewer than 1,400 votes. He stood again in 2001 and 2005, being defeated by larger margins. In 2006, he was selected as the candidate for the Cambridge constituency which had been lost by Labour to the Liberal Democrats the previous year.

At the election in 2010, Zeichner came third in Cambridge, polling 24% of the vote.

He contested the seat five years later, and increased his vote by more than 11 percentage points, defeating incumbent MP Julian Huppert by 599 votes. He was appointed as a Shadow Transport Minister (with responsibility for buses, bikes and walking) on 18 September 2015. In the snap 2017 general election Zeichner retained his seat with an increased majority, again over Julian Huppert, of 12,661.

Political positions
Zeichner describes his politics as 'socialist in a modern context'. He supported Tony Benn in the 1981 deputy leadership election. In the 2010 Labour leadership election, Zeichner supported Edward Miliband. In the 2015 Labour leadership election he supported Yvette Cooper.

Zeichner opposes Trident renewal.