Dan Poulter

Daniel Leonard James Poulter (born 30 October 1978) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich from 2010 to 2024. Poulter is a psychiatrist, and served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Health between September 2012 and May 2015. Initially elected as a Conservative, he defected to Labour in April 2024.

Daniel Poulter was born on 30 October 1978 in Beckenham, London. He was privately educated at Vinehall School and Battle Abbey School before attending the University of Bristol, graduating with a law degree, before qualifying as a medical doctor at King's College London.

Poulter was elected as a Conservative member of Hastings Borough Council in 2006, serving until 2007. He was the deputy leader of Reigate and Banstead Council between 2008 and 2010. Poulter worked as a junior doctor training in obstetrics and gynaecological medicine and has published articles in the area of women's health. At the time of meeting David Cameron in 2006, who inspired him to enter politics, he was working in mental health.

During the 2011 parliamentary summer recesses, Poulter worked at the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston in Norfolk, in the Accident and Emergency department. In 2018, Poulter became a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and continues to work as an NHS mental health doctor. In June 2021, Poulter became a non-executive director for Kanabo Group Plc, a medical cannabis company based in London.

Poulter was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich at the 2010 UK general election with 50.8% of the vote and a majority of 13,786.

In 2011, he was credited with a "lifesaving" intervention in Parliament when he persuaded fellow Conservative MP Guy Opperman to seek urgent medical treatment. Opperman subsequently had a brain tumour removed. Poulter resigned from the British Medical Association in 2012, following an announced doctors' strike. He said he did not believe "striking as a doctor could ever be justified". In September 2012, Poulter became the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health. His primary responsibilities as a Health Minister were for workforce issues, NHS estates and IT systems.

At the 2015 UK general election, Poulter was re-elected as MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, with an increased vote share of 56.1% and an increased majority of 20,144.

After the election, Poulter returned to the back benches, and restarted work part-time as a doctor. In October 2015, Poulter expressed his support for protests by doctors and others against the Conservative government's proposed changes to the junior doctors' contract.