David Wright (politician)


David Wright is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Telford from 2001 until 2015. He was an assistant government whip from June 2009 to May 2010. In May 2019 he was elected as a Labour member of the Telford and Wrekin Council representing St Georges ward and cabinet member for Economy, Housing, Transport and Infrastructure.

Early and personal life

Born within his future constituency at Oakengates, Telford, Shropshire, he went to Wrockwardine Wood Comprehensive School on New Road in Telford then New College, Telford. He graduated from Wolverhampton Polytechnic with a degree in Humanities. He worked on regeneration in the public Housing Department of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council for thirteen years before resigning to stand for election to Parliament.
He married Lesley in 1990.
He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Political career

Wright was a Town Councillor in Oakengates 1989-2000 and a Wrekin District Councillor from 1989–97. He was elected Member of Parliament for Telford in the 2001 general election. In June 2009 he became a government whip.
On 15 February 2010 he became involved in a scandal when an entry on his Twitter microblog called Conservative Party members "scum sucking pigs", although he claimed his account had been hacked. He then claimed, despite it being impossible, that his tweets had been edited after being posted.
In 2011, he was a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Act 2011.
He was narrowly defeated by his Conservative challenger, Lucy Allan at the 2015 general election, being the only incumbent Labour MP from the West Midlands to be lose their seat.
In May 2019 he was elected as a Labour Member of Telford and Wrekin council representing the St Georges ward and cabinet member for Economy, Housing, Transport and Infrastructure.