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==Early life==
Bradley was born in [[Erdington]], Birmingham, on 12 April 1953 to Fred Bradley (1915-2004), born Fritz Brandes,<ref name=shropstar2>{{cite news|title=Family's horrific story of lives torn apart by Nazis|work=Shropshire Star|date=7 June 2022|pages=20,29}}Report by Mark Andrews.</ref> and his wife Trudie Bradley.<ref name="abrams">{{cite news|title=The Ashcroft Affair: Backbencher with flair for political campaigns campaigns|first=Fran|last=Abrams|authorlink=Fran Abrams|work=[[The Independent]]|location=London|date=22 July 1999|page=2|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-ashcroft-affair-backbencher-with-flair-for-political-campaigns-campaigns-1107848.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-ashcroft-affair-backbencher-with-flair-for-political-campaigns-campaigns-1107848.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|accessdate=8 November 2013}}</ref>
Bradley was educated at [[Abingdon School]] – where he was a classmate of [[Francis Maude]] – and the [[University of Sussex]], followed by [[Occidental College]], Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite news|title=Diary|last=Jasper|first=Gerard|work=[[The Times]]|location=London|date=22 July 1999|page=24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Where Our Mps Were Educated|work=[[Birmingham Post]]|location=Birmingham|date=18 November 1998|page=13|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-60702647}}{{dl|date=July 2021}}</ref> Before entering Parliament, he was managing director of Millbank Consultants Ltd (1993–97) and previously a director of Good Relations Ltd (1986–93) prior to which he was the research director at the Centre for Contemporary Studies (1979–86).<ref>{{cite news|url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/biography/0,,-548,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130420073146/http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/biography/0,,-548,00.html|archive-date=20 April 2013|work=[[The Guardian]]|location=London|accessdate=8 November 2013|title=Peter Bradley: Electoral history and profile|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Political career==
===Labour councillor===
As a member of [[Westminster City Council|Westminster Council]] and deputy Leader of the Labour Group, he was a leader of the campaign to expose the [[Homes for votes scandal|'Homes for Votes' scandal]] which led eventually to the surcharging of the former Conservative Council Leader Dame [[Shirley Porter]] and colleagues in 1996.
===Member of Parliament===
Bradley was elected to the constituency of The Wrekin in [[Shropshire]] in the 1997 general election. Major boundary changes took effect ahead of that election, which created a new constituency containing and named after the town of Telford, before which Telford had been one of the largest elements of The Wrekin. The incumbent Labour MP for The Wrekin, [[Bruce Grocott]], decided to stand for the new Telford seat in the 1997 general election. The new [[Telford (UK Parliament constituency)|Telford constituency]] took 62.9% of the electorate of The Wrekin, leaving the remaining 37.1% to constitute a revised constituency of The Wrekin that incorporated areas previously within Shropshire North and Ludlow from two sides. This meant that although Labour won the largely Telford-based version of the constituency in the previous general election of 1992, the new constituency which was much more rural was likely to have been won by the Conservatives in 1992 if it had existed then.
In Parliament, he founded and chaired the Rural Group of Labour MPs which played a major part in shaping the Government's Rural White Paper and was subsequently appointed [[Parliamentary Private Secretary]] to [[Alun Michael]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/pdfs/ruralwp/rural.pdf |title=Our Countryside: The Future – A Fair Deal for Rural England |date=November 2000 |author=[[Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom)|MAFF]]/[[Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions|DETR]] |id=2000 Cm 4909 |publisher=[[The Stationery Office]] |location=London |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060214060314/http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/pdfs/ruralwp/rural.pdf |archivedate=14 February 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=18 April 2000|title=Labour MPs unveil rural manifesto|work=[[BBC News]]|accessdate=8 November 2013|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/718297.stm}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Blair finds red and green hard to match|first=Michael|last=Gove|authorlink=Michael Gove|work=[[The Times]]|location=London|date=28 February 1998|page=6}}</ref> His involvement in the [[Hunting Act 2004|bill to ban hunting]] led to his constituency being targeted by the [[Countryside Party (UK)|Countryside Party]] at the 2005 election.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hunt lobby aims to oust MPs|last=Hinsliff|first=Gaby|work=[[The Observer]]|location=London|date=18 June 2000|page=11}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title='Don't get mad, get even' is new tactic of the pro-hunters|first=Melissa|last=Kite|work=[[The Sunday Telegraph]]|location=London|date=23 January 2005|page=15|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1481810/Dont-get-mad-get-even-is-new-tactic-of-the-pro-hunters.html|accessdate=8 November 2013}}</ref> He was also a target of the strategy led by [[Michael Ashcroft|Lord Ashcroft]] to concentrate resources on key marginal seats which saw £50,000 donated to the Conservative campaign to unseat him.<ref>{{cite news|title=Tory funding unfair, Labour MP claims|work=[[Western Mail (Wales)|Western Mail]]|location=Cardiff|date=22 December 2009|page=11|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-214964053|accessdate=}}{{dl|date=July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Labour bids to outlaw Ashcroft's funding of Tory candidates|last=Brown|first=Colin|work=[[The Independent]]|location=London|date=4 August 2007|page=1|url=https://www.questia.com/library/1P2-7536790/labour-bids-to-outlaw-ashcroft-s-funding-of-tory-candidates|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131108134553/http://www.questia.com/library/1P2-7536790/labour-bids-to-outlaw-ashcroft-s-funding-of-tory-candidates|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 November 2013|accessdate=8 November 2013}} </ref>
Known for his campaigning commitment and skill, he secured a saving of £240 million in the annual NHS drugs budget following a successful campaign to regulate pharmaceutical company practices (2001). He also promoted the ''Members of Parliament (Employment Disqualification) Bill'' which sought to prevent MPs from neglecting their Parliamentary duties in pursuit of parallel careers (2002) and the ''Right to Reply & Press Standards Bill'' (2005) which, with the support of the [[National Union of Journalists|NUJ]], MediaWise and the [[Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom]] attempted to provide stronger protection to members of the public affected by misrepresentation in the press and to introduce controls on journalists' excesses. In 2011, he submitted evidence to the Leveson Inquiry based on the substance of the Bill. With [[Alan Whitehead|Alan Whitehead MP]], he was also credited with negotiating the restoration of the student grant through the ''Higher Education Act'' (2004). He was a member of the Public Administration Select Committee, 1997–9, which played a major role in the development and passage of the ''Freedom of Information Act 2000''. He subsequently lost his seat to Conservative politician [[Mark Pritchard (politician)|Mark Pritchard]].
Since leaving Parliament, he was a member of the Affordable Rural Housing Commission (2005–06) and subsequently of the Government's Rural Housing Advisory Group (2007–08).
==Charity work==
He is a co-founder and director of the Speakers' Corner Trust, a registered charity promoting free expression, public debate and active citizenship as a means of revitalising civil society in the UK as well as in [[Berlin]], [[Prague]] and [[Nigeria]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Bradford and Sheffield get their old Speakers' Corners back|work=[[The Guardian]]|location=London|first=Martin|last=Wainwright|date=18 October 2012|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2012/oct/18/bradford-speakers-corner-revived-democracy-protest|accessdate=8 November 2013}}</ref>
==Personal life==
Bradley is married to Annie (''née'' Hart), a teacher. They have two children.<ref name=abrams/><ref>{{cite news|title=The Michael Ashcroft affair: Profile: Tormentor with taste for a scrap|last=White|first=Michael|authorlink=Michael White (journalist)|work=[[The Guardian]]|location=London|date=22 July 1999|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Saddam and weapons of mass construction|last=Johnson|first=Frank|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London|date=11 April 2002|page=2}}</ref> Bradley is a member of [[Warwickshire County Cricket Club]] and supports [[Aston Villa F.C.]]<ref name=abrams/> He is also an honorary patron of [[A.F.C. Telford United]] football club.<ref>{{cite web|title=SCT's Director – Peter Bradley|work=Speakers' Corner Trust |url=http://www.speakerscornertrust.org/about-us/who-we-are/director/|accessdate=8 November 2013}}</ref>
He published a book about his father's experiences on 12 May 2022, ''The Last Train - A Family's History of the Final Solution''.<ref name=shropstar/>
==Works==
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[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Shropshire]]
[[Category:People educated at Abingdon School]]
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[[Category:UK MPs 1997–2001]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2001–2005]]
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