Chris Bryant

Sir Chris Bryant has been the Member of Parliament for Rhondda since 2001. He is the Minister of State in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. He was Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Europe and Latin America in the last Labour Government.

Prior to entering Parliament he was a priest in the Church of England, serving as a curate in High Wycombe and a youth chaplain in Peterborough diocese and then ran an educational charity, Common Purpose, before becoming Head of European Affairs at the BBC, based in Brussels.

Chris read English at Oxford before completing two further Oxford degrees in Theology (including History of the Church) as part of his preparation for ordination. A former member of the Select Committee for Culture Media and Sport, he has written biographies of Stafford Cripps and Glenda Jackson, as well as a history of Christian Socialism. He has also edited several books of essays and has written regularly for the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday and the Independent, and appeared on every major TV and radio news and current affairs programme.

Chris Bryant was the first gay MP to celebrate his civil partnership in the Palace of Westminster. He was recently described by the political sketch-writer Quentin Letts as ‘a brilliant parliamentarian’.

Photo courtesy of Robin Silas Christian Photography