Peter Prinsley | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of Parliament forBury St Edmunds and Stowmarket | |
| Assumed office 4 July 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Majority | 1,452 (2.85%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1958-04-08)8 April 1958 (age 67) |
| Political party | Labour |
| Relatives |
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| Website | peterprinsley |
Peter Richard Prinsley[2] (born 8 April 1958)[3] is a BritishLabour Party politician, who was elected asMember of Parliament forBury St Edmunds and Stowmarket in thegeneral election held on 4 July 2024.[4]
Prinsley was born on 8 April 1958 inIlkley,Yorkshire, England. He was educated atGuisborough Grammar School, agrammar school inGuisborough.[5]
Prinsley is anotorhinolaryngologist by profession (asurgeon specialising in diseases of the ear, nose, and throat). He was educated atSheffield Medical School.[6] Before being elected to Parliament, he worked as aconsultant ENT surgeon at theNorfolk & Norwich Hospital,James Paget University Hospital and in private practice.[7][8] He has an interest inOtology and taught atNorwich Medical School.
After working as a consultant surgeon for 20 years, Prinsley studied for aDoctor of Medicine degree at theUniversity of East Anglia.[9] He has published on a variety of academic topics with a particular focus oncholesteatoma.[10] Since becoming an MP an article of his has been published on the 'Epidemiology of Cholesteatoma in the UK Biobank'.[citation needed]
Prinsley has been a regional director for theRoyal College of Surgeons,[11] and was the chair of the Norfolk Deaf Association.[12]
Prinsley was elected as a Norwich City councillor in 2023.[13] He is a member of theJewish Labour Movement andGMB.[14]
Prinsley had sought selection as Labour candidate for bothNorwich North[15] andGreat Yarmouth, but was unsuccessful. After the 2024 election was called, the Labour Party told him he had been selected to fight Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket,[16] and his successful election was seen as a surprise win in an area that has traditionally been heavilyConservative.[17] He defeated Conservative candidateWill Tanner, who had previously served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime MinisterRishi Sunak. He campaigned in an old Post Office van, decorated with photographs of him in surgicalscrubs, becoming one of the oldest first-time MPs. He has said that, regarding the jobs of surgeon and MP, 'both of these roles have their uses'.[16]
In October 2024, Prinsley suggested that £100m spent onF-35 fighter jets forHMSQueen Elizabeth would be better spent on theBBC World Service.[18]
He is the vice-chair of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness, an officer for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Vascular and Venous Disease, and a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on the East of England, Health andBritish Sign Language.[19]
In September 2025 he was found in breach of parliamentary rules, after failing to declare an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel. He joined a “solidarity” trip in May that was organised and funded byLabour Friends of Israel (LFI). Prinsley apologised for the late declaration, which he blamed on an “administrative error” by one of his staff members.[20] Later that month, Prinsley and fellow MPSimon Opher were denied entry into Israel during a trip to theoccupied West Bank organised by theCouncil for Arab-British Understanding. The pair were part of a parliamentary delegation observing medical and humanitarian work being undertaken byMedical Aid for Palestinians and other organisations.[21] The British Foreign Office described the denial as "totally unacceptable and deeply concerning".[21]
He is Jewish and attends Norwich Synagogue.[14] His wife, Dr Marian Prinsley, is a retired psychologist and former president of the Norwich Hebrew Congregation who became theSheriff of Norwich in 2019.[22] Mr Prinsley's brother-in-law is John Schlapobersky, a group psychotherapist and anti-apartheid activist who was a Founding Trustee of the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture. The Prinsleys have three adult children and are grandparents.[13]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| New title | Member of Parliament forBury St Edmunds and Stowmarket 2024–present | Incumbent |