Paul Uppal

Background

Uppal was born in Birmingham, to Surjit Singh Uppal, a magistrate, and Balbir Kaur on 14 June 1967.

Education

He attended Harborne Hill Comprehensive School and then studied three A levels in Politics, History and Sociology at Matthew Boulton College. He studied Politics and Sociology at the University of Warwick.

Career

He was subsequently narrowly defeated in the 2015 General Election, when Rob Marris regained the seat with a majority of 801. They have three children together. Uppal was selected as Conservative Party candidate for Birmingham Yardley less than three months before the 2005 general election.

The seat was traditionally a Conservative-Labour marginal, but became a three-way marginal at the 1992 general election and a Labour-Liberal Democrat marginal since the 1997 general election, with the Conservatives pushed into an increasingly distant third place.

Uppal came third in 2005, winning 2,970 votes, with Liberal Democrat John Hemming replacing the retiring Labour Member of Parliament Estelle Morris. In February 2007, Uppal was selected as Wolverhampton South West Conservative candidate in an open primary held at Molineux Stadium in which all constituents were entitled to vote.

The seat, a safe Conservative seat held first by Enoch Powell from 1950 to 1974 and then by Nicholas Budgen became a Labour marginal held by Jenny Jones in 1997. In October 2011 he voted against a referendum on the United Kingdom"s membership of European Union.

In September 2012 he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to David Willetts at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Uppal highlighted the improvement in community relations whilst Marris expressed concern about zero-hour contracts, foodbanks and workers earning less than a living wage. On the 7th May, Uppal lost his seat to Rob Marris of Labour.

Achievements

• He was, for the parliament elected in the 2010 general election, the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West, having won the seat from the incumbent Labour Party Member of Parliament Rob Marris, with 16,344 votes and a majority of 691. Rob Marris held it from 2001 though the Labour majorities gradually reduced at each election and Uppal won the seat for the Conservatives in 2010.

Politics

In July 2010 he was elected Chairman of the All Party Urban Development Group.

Membership

55th United Kingdom Parliament.

Connections

opponent:

Rob Marris