Simon Opher

Simon Opher is a British Labour Party politician and general practitioner who has served as the Member of Parliament for Stroud since 2024.

Background
Opher, originally from Oxfordshire, attended to a comprehensive school before studying medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He has worked and lived in Dursley as a full-time GP for "almost exactly 29 years," with his wife Rachel; their three children attended the local Rednock School. He was awarded an MBE in 2016 for introducing and advocating social prescribing (now part of NHS policy nationwide) and was instrumental in the building of the Vale Community Hospital. Chairman of the Stroud Locality NHS, Opher headed the Covid-19 vaccination program locally and pledged to keep a day a week for patients in his practice after his election, a promise he renewed after his election.

He is chair of the charity that runs Prema Arts Centre, and President of Uley Cricket Club.

Political career
In November 2022, he replaced former Labour MP David Drew as the Labour Prospective parliamentary candidate for Stroud. Since 2024, he has served as the Member of Parliament for Stroud, having unseated Tory incumbent Siobhan Baillie. Opher polled 25,630 votes to Baillie's 14,219, ahead of Reform UK's Chris Lester (6,329), Green Pete Kennedy (5,729), Liberal Democrat George James (2,913), independent Saskia Whitfield (261) and Volt UK candidate Jason Hughes (163).