Just three weeks ago we elected 650 people to the House of Commons as members of parliament. But who today wants to be an MP? As a group, MPs are not highly regarded by the British public. A raft of surveys reveals the public rank MPs, alongside estate agents and journalists, as amongst the least trusted of all occupational groups. And certain events, such as the MPs’ expenses scandal, the Brexit debates in the House of Commons, and the ‘Partygate’ revelations, have only helped to confirm and boost the public’s critical attitudes.
A hostile environment for MPs and a demanding role
MPs work in an increasingly hostile environment. In recent years two MPs have been murdered, others attacked whilst carrying out their constituency duties, and others constantly have faced death threats and abuse. They are victims of intrusive, aggressive, and personalized attacks on social media; this is particularly the case for female MPs.
On the one hand MPs face considerable public denigration and yet, on the other hand, the skills required of them to carry out their work are considerable. Today MPs must deal with a more complex set of socio-economic and political demands than in the past. Social cleavages and fault lines have shifted, and class is now only one of many core divides; gender, age, education, and ethnicity are now more significant than in earlier periods. Combine this with the rapid growth of information technology and artificial intelligence and the competence and skills required of an MP are extensive.
It is within this context of public antipathy towards MPs and the increasing complexities of public life that the parliamentary career of Paul Blomfield, Labour MP for Sheffield Central for 14 years between 2010 and 2024, deserves consideration.
Sheffield Central: a return to solid Labour under Blomfield
The Sheffield Central constituency was created in 1983 and in the 41-year period since its creation it has been represented by just two MPs – firstly, by Richard Caborn from 1983 until 2010, and then by Blomfield. Caborn was a very capable, assiduous local politician and a minister in the Blair governments but, nevertheless, the general decline in Labour’s vote in all its traditional working-class constituencies was reflected in Sheffield Central where, in four general elections between 1992 and 2005, the party’s share of the vote fell by 19%.
By the time Caborn retired, Sheffield Central had become a Liberal Democrat target seat. The Liberal Democrat candidate in Central constituency was the high-profile Paul Scriven, who, since 2008, had been the leader of Sheffield City Council. He was extremely confident that he would join his fellow, next-door constituency (Sheffield Hallam) party neighbour, Nick Clegg, in the House of Commons.
Labour’s task of retaining the Central constituency in 2010 was difficult. Blomfield himself was 58 years old and lacked any track record of previous election contests or time served as a city councillor, but he had extensive Sheffield contacts. However, after several recounts, Blomfield managed to win with a majority of only 165.
Central was Labour’s fourth most marginal constituency in the country. But, from this highly marginal position, Labour’s share of the vote in the constituency rose significantly at the 2015 and 2017 general elections, and by 2019 Blomfield’s majority was a rock-solid 27,273.
Labour vote boosted by socio-economic changes and by Blomfield’s assiduousness
Explaining this very large increase in Labour’s vote in Central during Blomfield’s tenure as MP is not simple. Partly it reflects the changing socio-economic makeup of the constituency, in particular the age composition and educational profile of the voters.
When created in 1983 Sheffield Central was a traditional, inner-city, working-class constituency with 57% of its adult population in manual occupations and 86% white. However, a significant increase in the number of young voters in this part of Sheffield arising from the expansion of the city’s two universities and a shift in the ethnic makeup of the local population contributed to the constituency’s changing socio-economic profile. The 2021 census records a Central population that is young (55% aged between 16 and 34), well-educated (43% with a higher education qualification), living in rented accommodation (62%), and a significant Asian grouping (17%).
However, Blomfield’s own personal role as an assiduous and active representative of his constituents should not be underestimated (it is noteworthy that the increase in Labour’s vote over the period of four general elections 2010–2019 was larger in Central than in the other Sheffield constituencies).
The ‘Big Conversation’: Blomfield’s active engagement with constituents
Blomfield fulfilled his constituency role by initiating the ‘Big Conversation’. Launched in 2011, Blomfield conducted a three-week listening exercise with his constituents every autumn through well-advertised meetings and conversations in local cafes, pubs, and assembly rooms.
What is significant is that these meetings were very often sponsored not by the Labour Party but by local organisations involved in business, social care, mental health, the third sector, and the environment, or with the young and with ethnic groups. Therefore, they involved people beyond the usual party-political networks.
So, to take four examples from these Big Conversation exercises, there were
- In 2017: 40 public meetings involving 1,057 people;
- In 2018: 40 public meetings involving 1,375 people;
- In 2019: 37 public meetings involving 968 people;
- In 2020 (by then Covid restrictions had been introduced): 11 public meetings involving 584 people.
At the end of each three-week exercise Blomfield published an initial report highlighting the issues that had arisen in these conversations, and then followed this up with a report six months later detailing the actions he had taken regarding many of these issues.
Clearly MPs of all political parties engage in consultations with their constituents in various ways, but Blomfield’s extensive ‘Big Conversation’ exercise would appear to be unique. A comparative search reveals no other MP engaging in such an extensive annual discussion with constituents.
A strategic opposition backbench MP
Throughout his 14 years as an MP, apart from a four-year period between 2016 and 2020 when he was a member of Labour’s shadow cabinet team monitoring the UK’s exit from the European Union, Blomfield was an opposition backbencher. According to the House of Commons database, during his time as an MP Blomfield made 761 spoken contributions, submitted 1,691 written questions, and signed 751 early day motions.
To have any significant political impact as an opposition backbencher Blomfield quickly understood the need to build strategic coalitions across party lines, to utilise a range of intra and inter parliamentary pressure points, and to exploit the power of storytelling or narratives to bring issues to life and get them onto the political agenda.
A very good example of the latter is Blomfield’s use of his personal experience to raise the issue of assisted dying. When Sophy Ridge, Sky News presenter, was asked “Which interview are you especially proud of?” she responded, “Paul Blomfield talked about assisted dying because his father took his own life when he had a terminal illness”.
An impactful contributor to government policy
By working across the party-political divide, especially by building alliances through all-party parliamentary groups, and by taking on major officer-roles in many of these groups, Blomfield contributed in significant ways to government policies.
On a broad range of domestic issues, ranging from the provision of mental health facilities and programmes for both young and old, the wellbeing of young and adult carers, the support for women’s charities, and the services provided for migrants, he was able to influence policy outcomes. He helped to secure an end to delays in benefit payments for the terminally ill, to ensure a legal requirement for universities to facilitate the electoral registration of students, and to enable access to student loans for Syrian refugees.
And in three areas in which Blomfield was very closely involved – the exploitation of people needing to borrow money, the restrictions on international student visas, and the harm to people arising from gambling – his impact has been significant.
Painstaking and genuine cross-party work
As an opposition backbencher the opportunities to make a significant impact on policy outcomes are limited. However, an assiduous backbench opposition MP can, by building cross-party alliances, have some impact upon government policies. Painstaking work is required, with reversals on occasions – as Blomfield experienced with international student visas – to achieve desired policy outcomes. Nevertheless, incremental change is possible by hard work and cross-party collaboration.
So often the media presentation of the House of Commons is the equivalent of a bear pit – noisy, confrontational and with little space for reasoned discussion. But much of the daily work there depends upon an entirely different culture in which differences in political values and beliefs prevail but genuine cross-party attempts to improve policy outcomes are made.
Paul Blomfield: a dedicated, energetic and much-admired MP
As the MP for Sheffield Central, Blomfield displayed extraordinary dedication and energy in representing his constituency. He made extensive efforts to reach out to and listen to a broad range of people extending beyond the local Labour Party.
The qualities consistently referred to by interviewees have been of a calm man, a listener, confident enough to consult, meticulous, fair-minded, self-restrained, well-prepared, and loyal. And, finally, very hard working which, considering that very early in his time as an MP he went through a serious 13-hour operation to remove a brain tumour, is a testament to his courage and commitment.
Both the House of Commons and the people of Sheffield Central benefited from his 14 years as an MP.
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