Name: Matty Bradford
Age: 37
Avatar: Tim from The Office (UK version)
Sex: M
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Marital Status: Straight and single
Party: Labour
Primary Tribe: Progress
Secondary Tribes: Tribune
Brexit Position: Remain
Constituency: City of Durham
Year Elected: 2017
Education:
BEconSci, Economics, Durham University, 1998
MEcon, London School of Economics, 2005
Career:
Guitarist, The Thames (rock band), 1993-2003.
The Fabian Society, Analyst/Writer, 2003-2016
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, 2016-2017
Political Career:
MP. City of Durham, 2017 - Current
BIO/CAREER: Politics is in Matty Bradford's blood. His father, Matthew, was a History professor at Durham University before becoming a Labour MP for several terms. Matty's mother, Irene, was born in Omagh in Northern Ireland. Due to his wife's Ulster lineage (Irish-Catholic and a mild SDLP supporter) Matthew took a keen interest in the affairs of Northern Ireland and played a role in the Good Friday Agreement negotiations. However, Irene, along with her sister and young nephew, were killed in the Omagh bombing in 1998. Matthew retired from his tenure as a MP after that due to the grief of losing his wife and returned to academia. To this day, he still battles with heavy depression.
Matty was a decent student as a youngster. He decided to stay home and enrolled in his hometown Durham University, largely to remain near his father. He decided upon Economics as his field of choice and graduated with top marks.
However, his passion as a youth was music -- particularly indie and punk. Matty was a gifted guitar player and became the frontman while a teenager for a band called The Thames (largely influenced by Blur and Travis.) The band stayed together while in college and had a single that received airplay on John Peel's radio show entitled "Sarah Smiles," which briefly charted. The Thames opened up for The Libertines for some dates before finally calling it a day. Matty then decided to enroll in the London School of Economics and obtained his master's.
After that, Matty began work as an analyst/writer for The Fabian Society and then briefly as an analyst/advisor for The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, in which he focused on the benefits of globalization and open markets.
With the MP's seat opening up in his home district, and the son of a popular local figure, Matty was recruited to run for office. A strident remainer, he is one of the more moderate members of Labour. He has so far remained largely focused on constituent issues (known for the sheer amount of surgeries he hosts) but has started to find his footing with his economics background.
