Karen Bradley is a British Conservative Party politician. She was first elected as the MP for Staffordshire Moorlands in 2010 and then re-elected in 2019 with a majority of 16,428.

Bradley has recently criticised Staffordshire’s east-west split plan to merge local councils in the county. She has publicly explained that there is no reason to change the existing council structure.

Staffordshire’s county council looked to combine existing local authorities to create unitary councils which would theoretically simplify local government, save public funds and significantly improve services. Bradley expressed that it was not fair to force the people of the Staffordshire Moorlands into a devolution deal or unitary authority.

A Look into MP Karen Bradley’s Net Worth

Karen Bradley’s net worth is roughly $5 million. While she has made her career in politics, Bradley also built her net worth while working for other famous companies. Having been elected as the Chair of the Procedure committee, Bradley has built her reputation as an influential politician.

Between 2018 and 2019, Karen Bradley was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Back in 2014, she was positioned within the Cameron Government where she was appointed to the Cabinet as a Secretary of state for culture, media, and sports.

Growing Up in Newcastle

MP Karen Bradley was born in Newcastle on March 12, 1970. During her childhood years, Bradley went to Buxton Girls School, which was a comprehensive school in Buxton, Derbyshire.

Bradley studied maths at Imperial College London and joined accountancy firm Deloitte and Touche. She worked as a tax manager for seven years and then was appointed senior tax manager at accounting firm KPMG.

The Growth of Karen Bradley’s Career in Parliament

In 2005, Karen Bradley was unsuccessful in the Manchester General election and received third position. Bradley lost to the Liberal Democrats John Leech. A year later in 2006, Karen Bradley was appointed to the Staffordshire Moorlands and eventually a Member of Parliament in the 2010 general elections. In the same year, Bradley joined the Work and Pensions Select Committee and then the co-secretary of the backbench committee.

Despite her tremendous growth within the political sector, Karen Bradley still faced challenges and setbacks to her career.

In 2019, Karen Bradley was sacked as Northern Secretary by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Her dismissal was due to her failure to have a strong command of her brief as she was unable to reinstate Stormont.

She was found to have not been aware of the difference between unionists and nationalists and publicly stated her belief that the Troubles killings by British soldiers were not crimes.

Despite this turn of events, Karen Bradley’s career in parliament was not over yet.

In the 2019 general elections, Bradley was re-elected with an increased majority of 16,428 votes. She went on to also become the Chair of the Procedure Committee, defeating Bob Blackman throughout the election period.

Controversy Surrounding Karen Bradley’s Political Ideas

The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland. The conflict lasted roughly 30 years from the 1960s to 1998. An investigation re-examining the deaths caused by the army was reported by the BBC back in 2016.

In 2019, Karen Bradley expressed her view on the British soldiers’ actions during The Troubles. She defended the killings that were happening due to security officials and stated that the minimal killings that happened at the hands of the military and police were not crimes but rather an act of following orders.

Bradley explained that these soldiers were obediently carrying out their duties in a dignified manner and so these killings were not crimes but rather their role in the field.

Her opinion was highly controversial, and many did not understand what she meant by saying this. Bradley later issued an apology regarding her remark as a slip of the tongue.

Parliamentary Whips

In politics, whips are the party’s vote organisers, enforcing party discipline and voting as instructed by party leadership. Back in September 2012, Bradley was appointed as a junior government whip. A few months later in December, Karen Bradley became part of the Administration Committee.

The Administration Committee is a group in House of Commons in British Parliament and works to consider the services provided for and by the political group. Bradley remained a member of The Administration Committee until March 2014 after which she joined the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime.

During the 2015 General Elections, Karen Bradley was elected as MP for Staffordshire Moorlands with a vote share of 51.1% and a majority of 10,174. From then, her parliamentary career continued to progress, with Bradley being offered the position of Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by Prime Minister Theresa May in July 2016.

Karen Bradley’s Brush with Criticism

Arts Council England is a public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as well as a recognised charity. Back in December 2016, Althea Efunshile was the deputy chief of Arts Council England and had been proposed as a nominee for a non-executive Channel 4 director position.

Althea Efunshile was the only nominee rejected by Karen Bradley sparking criticism as she was the only black female candidate. The other nominees were four white men who were being appointed to an all-white board.

Based on this action, Karen Bradley received a letter of complaint by a cross-party group of MPs. On December 12, 2017, it was reported that Althea Efunshile had been appointed to the Channel 4 board.

After having been placed as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in January 2018, she later faced criticism by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in July 2018. This was due to her failure to act on the discrimination by British government against soldiers and police. Bradley later publicly admitted that she did not fully understand Northern Irish politics and the divide between nationalists and unionist parties during elections.

Karen Bradley’s journey through politics, criticism and personal beliefs has made her the influential politician she is today.