Dan Poulter

Daniel Leonard James Poulter (born 30 October 1978) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich from 2010 to 2024. Poulter is a psychiatrist, and served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Health between September 2012 and May 2015. Initially elected as a Conservative, he defected to Labour in April 2024.

Early life and career
Daniel Poulter was born on 30 October 1978 in Beckenham, London. He was privately educated at Vinehall School and Battle Abbey School before attending the University of Bristol, graduating with a law degree, before qualifying as a medical doctor at King's College London.

Poulter was elected as a Conservative member of Hastings Borough Council in 2006, serving until 2007. He was the deputy leader of Reigate and Banstead Council between 2008 and 2010. Poulter worked as a junior doctor training in obstetrics and gynaecological medicine and has published articles in the area of women's health. At the time of meeting David Cameron in 2006, who inspired him to enter politics, he was working in mental health.

During the 2011 parliamentary summer recesses, Poulter worked at the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston in Norfolk, in the Accident and Emergency department. In 2018, Poulter became a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and continues to work as an NHS mental health doctor. In June 2021, Poulter became a non-executive director for Kanabo Group Plc, a medical cannabis company based in London.

Parliamentary career
Poulter was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich at the 2010 UK general election with 50.8% of the vote and a majority of 13,786.

In 2011, he was credited with a "lifesaving" intervention in Parliament when he persuaded fellow Conservative MP Guy Opperman to seek urgent medical treatment. Opperman subsequently had a brain tumour removed. Poulter announced he would resign from the British Medical Association in 2012, following an announced doctors' strike. He said he did not believe "striking as a doctor could ever be justified". In September 2012, Poulter became the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health. His primary responsibilities as a Health Minister were for workforce issues, NHS estates and IT systems.

At the 2015 UK general election, Poulter was re-elected as MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, with an increased vote share of 56.1% and an increased majority of 20,144.

After the election, Poulter returned to the back benches, and restarted work part-time as a doctor. In October 2015, Poulter expressed his support for protests by doctors and others against the Conservative government's proposed changes to the junior doctors' contract.

In April 2016, Poulter widened his criticism of the Conservative government, in a Guardian article. Poulter was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 EU membership referendum. He later voted along party lines concerning leaving the EU.

At the snap 2017 UK general election, Poulter was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 60.1% and a decreased majority of 17,185. He was again re-elected at the 2019 UK general election, with an increased vote share of 62.7%, and an increased majority of 23,391.

In a March 2022 article penned by Poulter for the East Anglian Daily Times, he said "studies of healthy omnivores eating a diet rich in plant foods have failed to find consistent evidence that red meat is unhealthy". In December 2022, he wrote an article in The Guardian advocating for increasing nurses' pay during the 2022 National Health Service strikes.

On 27 April 2024, Poulter announced his defection to the Labour Party, the second Conservative MP to defect to Labour during that parliament after Christian Wakeford crossed the floor in 2022. Poulter also declared that he would not be seeking re-election at the 2024 general election.

Sunday Times libel case
In November 2017, The Sunday Times published two articles based on claims made to the newspaper by the MP Andrew Bridgen that Poulter had sexually assaulted three female MPs eight years previously. The Conservative Party Panel investigated the matter and exonerated Poulter, confirming that no woman had ever made a complaint about him. It dismissed the claims as having "no reliable evidence" to support them. In February 2019, the Sunday Times apologised in open court to Poulter, acknowledging that the allegations were false, defamatory, and should not have been published. The articles were removed from the newspaper's website and Times Newspapers Limited agreed that it would not republish the same or similar allegations about Poulter in the future. The Sunday Times paid substantial damages to him, as well as his legal costs.