Philip Bradbourn OBE MEP (born August 9, 1951, Tipton, West Midlands) is a British politician, and Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands region, for the Conservative Party. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 1999.
He was a parliamentary candidate for Wolverhampton South East in the 1992 general election and stood for the European Parliament in County Durham in 1994.
Until his election he was adviser to the Conservative Group Leader on Wolverhampton City Council. He held various local authority posts mainly based around planning. He was also the Chairman of the West Midlands Region Conservatives.

Policy Portfolio
With a career in Local Government spanning over 30 years, Philip Bradbourn acts as the Conservative Spokesman on Civil Liberties and Justice & Home Affairs. As part of his work on the Transport & Tourism Committee, Philip was the European Parliament's Rapporteur (Legislative Draftsman) on the so-called Trans European Networks, which are supposed to provide the necessary transport infrastructure for the Internal Market to function properly. He has ensured that there is a level playing field in the competition for the award of these funds for all modes of transport and has put in place safeguards to ensure that money allocated is used effectively or is returned to the Member States.
He has acted as Opposition Spokesman charged with responding to a High Level Report on European Infrastructure Charging. This report is the precursor to proposals to tax all transport users for their use of all forms of transport whether roads, rail, sea or air and would have wide implications for passengers and freight companies as well as the tourism and insurance industries. He will be actively opposing any further tax burden on British taxpayers or moves to harmonise taxes across the EU and has contacted over 200 major companies and organisations Europe-wide that will be affected if ever legislation were enacted. He was also given the task of responding on behalf of his political group on Regional Policy for that section of the EU's budget proposals for 2001, an area of expenditure which covers nearly a third of total EU spending.
As an affiliate Member of the largest European political party in Parliament, the Group of the EPP (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, he was Chief Whip for the British Conservative MEPs between 2004 and 2007, where he ensured that the Conservative Manifesto of 'In Europe - not run by Europe' was the basis on which all Conservative MEPs vote within both the larger international political group to which they are allied and within the European Parliament itself.

Transport, Tourism and Local Government
Philip Bradbourn began his career in the European Parliament in the manner he means to continue, when at his first Committee meeting he pointed out the ridiculous number of civil servants present at the meeting - almost outnumbering the number of elected MEPs present! At the hearings into the appointment of the European Commission he cross-examined two Candidate Commissioners over the issues of reform of the European Institutions and on Regional Aid to the UK.
He was responsible for steering three "legal opinions" through Parliament, one of which deals with the financial regulations governing the funding of European transport infrastructure projects and two involving the "Single European Sky", promoting a competitive and safe market for the aviation sector. He is also Parliamentary Draftsman on a proposal for improvements to Europe's Air Traffic Management System (SESAR).
He has been responsible for laying before Parliament amendments to legislation on guidelines for grants from Europe, to make them more relevant to the needs of local people, to ensure 'value for money' for the taxpayer who foots the bill and to see more effective monitoring and auditing of how the money is spent. Additionally, he has published a pamphlet on Regional Policy which highlights both Labour's plans for the break up of the United Kingdom into regions and which gives the alternative Conservative approach ensuring the continued integrity of the nation state.
Whilst a Member of the Legal Affairs and Internal Markets Committee he was heavily involved in the development of E-Commerce in Europe, serving on a Parliamentary Working Party dealing with the issue. He has also instigated major change in European policy towards the selling of timeshares through a Public Hearing take place for local people to voice their concerns about the current working practices of some unscrupulous companies. Thanks to this intervention, European legislation is now being redrafted to close off these loopholes that allow "timeshare touts" to pressure holidaymakers into exploitative schemes.
Recently he steered through Parliament a piece of legislation to provide grant aid to freight transport companies who develop innovative ideas to improve environmental performance in the sector. The 'Marco Polo' programme will assist British companies in their efforts for cleaner and more environmentally friendly freight movements.
Philip Bradbourn has recently become Senior Vice-Chairman of the Justice & Home Affairs Committee in the European Parliament. In this role he will be working to ensure that issues which are crucial to the West Midlands in the field of immigration, asylum and data protection are represented in discussions and negotiations.
Furthermore he is taking a particular interest in certain global trade issues such as the Airbus-Boeing dispute on subsidies which has widespread implications for the aviation sector.
He takes a particular interest is transport security. He is a leading proponent of the Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreement which was signed between the EU and the US Government in 2004. This agreement involves data on air passengers to be exchanged with the transport and security agencies of the destination country in order to isolate and intercept potentially dangerous passengers. Whilst he recognises that there are concerns with civil liberties regarding the sharing of this information.
Furthermore, he welcomes the development of the Container Security Initiative (CSI) between the EU and Third countries. This initiative highlights potentially dangerous cargo stored in containers by using the latest technology and eliminates the threat of so-called "dirty bombs" being transported through international ports.

Recent Parliamentary Activities
To date he has been involved as shadow rapporteur (opposition spokesman) on the following parliamentary reports:

Infrastructure Charging
EU Budget Section III 2001
Additionality (Regional Funds)
Interoperability of European Rail Network
Innovation and Regional Policy
Section III EU Budget 2001
Enhancing Port Security
Common Rules for Aviation Security
Supply Chain Security Joint Parliamentary Committees
With strong local ties Philip Bradbourn is keen to promote the West Midlands as a dynamic place to do business and to exploit its undoubted potential as a tourist centre. He co-sponsored an event in Brussels to promote the region's beers and cheeses and is following up by ensuring a number of other local products are marketed on the European 'stage'.
He is working closely with Birmingham International Airport on promoting the region and developing services and has also been directly involved with fighting European Commission proposals which would put our regional airports at a competitive disadvantage.
He has been active with local haulage, logistics and distribution companies in fighting EU proposals which would seriously damage these industries at the core of the Region's economy.
His most recent activity in this area was to fight the proposal for a new EU Driving Licence Directive which, whilst seeking to introduce standardised Driving Licences across the EU also contains proposals which would seriously compromise our own UK system which has resulted in British drivers being the safest in Europe. He intends to submit numerous amendments to this proposal to take out the more highly prescriptive parts of the Bill.
As the MEP with responsibility for liaison with Local Government in the region Philip Bradbourn has been actively seeking to promote greater ties with local Councillors throughout the region since they are increasingly involved in spending EU grant aid in the region.
He is a founder member of the Parliaments Forum for the Automobile and Society and has been actively involved in the Ceramics Forum, another body set up to promote our fine china from the Potteries and elsewhere. He has also been appointed to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Forum which seeks to develop closer links between the EU and countries in the Mediterranean basin.
Recently, he has been co-ordinating the campaign in the region against the formation of a City Region, believing that this would significantly damage the delivery of local services and also see the abolition of our historic Counties. Linked to this, he has been using his close ties and background in local authority business to promote a positive relationship between local government and the European institutions and regularly publishes a digest of new EU legislation for local Councillors.

Other Parliamentary Activities
In a career in both Local Government and the Conservative Party for nearly 40 years, Philip Bradbourn has held many posts which have equipped him for his role in the European Parliament.
In Local Government he spent nearly 20 years working in Town and Country Planning. Following that, he diversified his professional interests becoming Political Adviser to the Conservative Group on The City of Wolverhampton Council – a post which he held until his election to the European Parliament.
He also served as Adviser to the Conservative Leaders Group on the West Midlands Metropolitan Joint Committee and was Hon. Secretary to the Conservative Group on the West Midlands Local Government Association, again until his election in 1999. He spent 10 years as a representative to the Party's Local Government Advisory Committee.
In his party political career, he has held a range of posts starting as a Young Conservative in 1969 when he was, progressively, Constituency Chairman, Vice-Chairman and then Chairman of the West Midlands Young Conservatives and then a Member of the organisation's National Committee.
For 4 years he served as British Vice-Chairman of the Democrat Youth Community of Europe, an organisation bringing together the youth wings of Christian Democratic and Conservative Parties from across the continent.
He then moved into policy work becoming Regional Chairman of the Conservative Political Centre and then the Centre's National Chairman from 1990 - 1993. He served on the former National Union Executive Committee and General Purposes Committee of the voluntary party for 10 years. His career in the voluntary party culminated in 1997 when he was elected as West Midlands Regional Chairman, serving in that capacity until July 1999.
In the 1992 General Election he stood as Conservative Candidate in the Wolverhampton South-East Parliamentary Constituency and in the 1994 European Elections was European Conservative Candidate for the County Durham European Constituency.
He was awarded the O.B.E. for public and political service in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 1994.

Political Career & Personal
On 12th September 2007, an article appeared in the Times referring to an incident which occurred in the European Parliament (a non-smoking building), where he was found smoking in a corridor. When it was pointed out to him that he was not permitted to smoke inside the Parliament, he reportedly responded "I'm a member. I make the rules." Bradbourn, however, denied this, saying that his exact words were, "Elected members make the rules in Parliament, not staff."

Black Country Background
Born in Tipton in 1951, Philip Bradbourn was educated at Tipton Grammar School and then at Wulfrun College and Worcester College where he obtained a post-graduate Diploma in Municipal Administration in 1972.