Stephen Ladyman

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Stephen Ladyman
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health
In office
13 June 2003 – 9 May 2005
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byHazel Blears
Succeeded byLiam Byrne
Member of Parliament
for South Thanet
In office
1 May 1997 – 12 April 2010
Preceded byJonathan Aitken
Succeeded byLaura Sandys
Personal details
Born (1952-11-06) 6 November 1952 (age 71)
Ormskirk, Lancashire, England
Political partyLabour
SpouseJanet Pike Baker (m. 1995)
Alma materLiverpool Polytechnic

Stephen John Ladyman (born 6 November 1952) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Thanet from 1997 until 2010. He served as a minister in the government of Tony Blair between 2003 and 2007, latterly as Minister of State for Transport.

Early life

Ladyman attended the Birkenhead Institute Grammar School for Boys (became the comprehensive Birkenhead Institute High School then closed in August 1993) on Tollemache Road in Claughton, before studying at Liverpool Polytechnic where he received a BSc in Applied Biology.

Ladyman did work placements at

radiocarbon laboratory, in the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre, East Kilbride
.

Ladyman worked as a research scientist for the

Viagra
was discovered, advising research scientists on the design of computer systems, before working as Head of Computer User Support until 1997.

Political career

Ladyman contested the

Department for Health
from June 2003 until May 2005, when he was appointed Minister of State for Transport having narrowly held his seat in the 2005 General Election with a majority of 664 votes. In the General election of 6 May 2010, Ladyman once again stood as the Labour Party candidate for Thanet South; however, he was defeated by Conservative candidate Laura Sandys who took the seat with a majority of over 7,600.[1]

Ladyman was chair of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust from January 2013 to 2020 and appointed as Chair of Wiltshire Health and Care in 2020 and Chair of the National Autistic Society in November 2021.[2]

Top Gear

While Minister of State for Transport, Ladyman appeared on Top Gear in 2005 to discuss speed cameras with Jeremy Clarkson during the show's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment. He revealed himself to be a fan of cars, and admitted to having received several speeding fines and a total of nine penalty points. The Minister displayed a passion for fast cars including having owned an Alfa Romeo and posting a lap time in the 'Reasonably Priced Car' towards the top of the leaderboard. He set a time of 1:48.8, faster than Clarkson's own time of 1:50.[3]

After presenter Richard Hammond was seriously injured in a high-speed crash in 2006, Ladyman voiced his support for the programme. He denied that Top Gear encouraged dangerous driving, instead that they "celebrate great engineering and, yes, they celebrate fast cars ... but, equally, they've had me on the programme giving out road safety messages. People don't go onto the road and break the speed limit because they watch Top Gear."[4]

Personal life

Ladyman married Janet Pike (née Baker) in May 1995 on the Isle of Thanet. He has one daughter, one stepdaughter and two stepsons (one deceased).

References

  1. ^ "BBC News - Election 2010 - Constituency - Thanet South". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  2. ^ Stephen, Ladyman. "Former minister Dr Stephen Ladyman appointed Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust chairman". This is Somerset. Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  3. ^ [1] Top Gear Episode Guide
  4. ^ [2] Times Online 'Road safety minister backs Top Gear daredevils'

External links

Video clips

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for South Thanet
1997–2010 		Succeeded by
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