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Torsten Bell
Torsten Henricson-Bell FAcSS (born September 1982) is a Labour politician, economist, author, and newspaper columnist, serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Swansea West since 2024.[3] He was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for the Treasury and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions in January 2025. Previously he was the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, an economic thinktank, from 2015 to 2024. He was appointed to the Resolution Foundation in 2015 after having served as Ed Miliband's Director of policy, and as a Treasury civil servant who became special adviser to Alistair Darling during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.[4] Early life and educationBell's Swedish mother, Clem Henricson, is a policy analyst and activist, and his English father, Bill Bell, is an academic and children's rights advocate. His twin brother, Olaf, is a Cambridge-educated civil servant.[5] Educated at The Judd School, a grammar school in Tonbridge, Kent,[6] Bell read philosophy, politics and economics at Mansfield College, Oxford.[7] At Oxford, he was editor of the student newspaper Cherwell.[8] Early careerSince 2017, he has written a column in The Observer named Hidden Gems from the World of Research.[9] Bell writes regularly about poverty and inequality in the United Kingdom,[10] about the North–South divide in England and the levelling-up policy of the British government.[11] He described the September 2022 United Kingdom mini-budget as "the biggest unforced economic policy error of my lifetime."[12] Bell has been associated with the coordination of policy developments for the Labour Party.[13] He has received recognition across various factions within the party for his attention to detail.[14] In November 2022, Bell was appointed Honorary Professor at the UCL Policy Lab.[15] In September 2023, Bell was named as the tenth most powerful left-wing figure in the UK by the New Statesman.[16] Parliamentary careerIn May 2024, Bell was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the seat of Swansea West in the 2024 general election, which raised some criticism from local members for his having "no connection" to the area and "no Welsh connection".[17] Despite this, in July 2024, Bell was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Swansea West constituency, with 41.4% share of the vote, and a majority of 8,515.[3] From July 2024 to January 2025, Bell was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Cabinet Office.[18] Thereafter he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions, replacing Emma Reynolds, who was promoted following the resignation of Tulip Siddiq.[19][20] In November 2024, he voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legalise assisted suicide.[21] Bibliography
References
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Torsten Bell. |
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