Adrian Bailey



Adrian Edward Bailey (born 11 December 1945) has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich West since winning the seat at a by-election in 2000. He was the Chairman of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee 2010–2015.

Political career
In 1982 Bailey moved to the West Midlands to become a full-time political organiser for the Co-operative Party covering the Midlands and South Yorkshire region. He held this post until his election to Parliament in June 2000.

He was elected as a councillor for Sandwell Borough Council in 1991 and was its Deputy Leader from 1997 to 2000. At the time of the resignation of Commons Speaker, Betty Boothroyd in 2000, Bailey was the Secretary of the constituency Labour Party and Deputy Leader of the local council and seemed the obvious choice to fight the impending West Bromwich West by-election. He was chosen to fight the seat and won fairly comfortably on 23 November 2000, entering the Commons more than 30 years after his first attempt. He is unusual in that he has contested two Parliamentary by-elections caused by the resignation of two different Speakers of the House of Commons.

Following its establishment in 2002, Bailey took the position of Secretary of The All Party Parliamentary Group for Steel which acts as a group to promote the interests of the steel manufacturing industry and the communities that work in that industry.

Following the 2005 general election, Bailey became a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and has served successive Secretaries of State, David Blunkett and John Hutton. He also served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Bob Ainsworth, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence.