In opposition
At the 2010 general election,Bryant was again re-elected,with a decreased vote share of 55.3% and a decreased majority of 11,553. [25] [26]
In October 2010,Bryant stood as one of 49 candidates for election to the 19 places in the Shadow Cabinet in the internal Labour Party poll,receiving 77 votes,29th position on the list.
In October 2010,Bryant described the coalition government's housing benefit reforms as poorer people "being socially engineered and sociologically cleansed out of London". The use of the term "cleansing" was criticised by members of the coalition,including deputy prime minister Nick Clegg,who called Bryant's comment "offensive to people who had witnessed ethnic cleansing in other parts of the world". [27]
In 2011,in the House of Commons,he criticised Prince Andrew,Duke of York for a number of alleged indiscretions. [28]
Bryant won the Stonewall Politician of the Year Award in 2011 for his work to support equality for lesbian,gay and bisexual people. [29] He was given a score of 100% in favour of lesbian,gay and bisexual equality by Stonewall. [30] On 5 February 2013,he voted in favour in the House of Commons Second Reading vote on same-sex marriage in Britain. [31]
Following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014,Bryant told the Commons 'I am afraid that the international response... has thus far been pitiful and spineless. People have even trotted out in this Chamber the argument that most of the people in Crimea are Russian speaking and wanted to join Russia in the first place. Can Members not hear history running through the decades?... There has been little honour in the way that Britain,France and the United States,having signed up to the Budapest memorandum,which guaranteed the territorial integrity of Ukraine,now make lots of great speeches but introduce the measliest level of sanctions and targeted interventions against Russian individuals... A Russian friend of mine says that Putin is not yet mad. That may be true,but what will our surrendering and our appeasement do for his sanity?' [32]
In December 2014,Bryant was moved from Shadow Minister for Welfare Reform to Shadow Minister for the Arts. [33] In this position,he suggested in January 2015 that too many successful artists such as "James Blunt and their ilk" had been educated at private schools,and that he wanted to see more encouragement for the arts for people from a variety of backgrounds,even though Bryant himself attended a private school. Blunt said that Bryant was a "narrow-minded 'classist gimp' who was motivated by the 'politics of jealousy'";Bryant responded by claiming that Blunt should not be "so blooming precious" and that he was not "knocking [his] success" but attempting to draw attention to the lack of diversity in the arts. [34]
At the 2015 general election,Bryant was again re-elected with a decreased vote share of 50.7% and a decreased majority of 7,455. [35] [36] [37]
In September 2015,following Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour Party leader,Bryant was appointed Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He resigned from this position on 26 June 2016, [38] along with other shadow ministers after the Brexit vote. [39] He supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. [40]
He supported Remain in the EU referendum in June 2016 and voted against the triggering of Article 50 in February 2017. [41]
In January 2017,as ex-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Russia,Bryant claimed that the Russian government orchestrated a homophobic campaign to remove him from this position,saying that the Russian government has acquired kompromat on high-profile Conservative Party MPs including Boris Johnson,Liam Fox,Alan Duncan and David Davis. [42]
On 12 January 2017,Bryant bemused his fellow MPs and Speaker of the House John Bercow,when he wished Bercow happy "kiss a ginger day",during business questions. [43]
At the snap 2017 general election,Bryant was again re-elected,with an increased vote share of 64.1% and an increased majority of 13,746. [44] [45] [46]
Following the general election in 2017,Bryant came first in the ballot for Private Members Bills,and after consulting his constituents introduced the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Bill,which introduced a new offence of assaulting an emergency worker. It received royal assent on 13 November 2018 as the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018.
In November 2017,Bryant called for the arrest [47] of the President of the United States,Donald Trump,if he travels to the United Kingdom,after the President shared a comment on the social media website Twitter from a member of the far-right group Britain First that related to radical Islamic events. Bryant stated:"The Prime Minister should make it absolutely clear that if Donald Trump comes to this country he'll be arrested for inciting religious hatred and therefore he'd be better off not coming at all." [48]
Following John Bercow's resignation as Speaker of the House of Commons on 31 October 2019,Bryant stood in the election for a new speaker [49] on 4 November 2019,losing to Lindsay Hoyle by 213 to 325. [50]
At the 2019 general election,Bryant was again re-elected,with a decreased vote share of 54.4% and a decreased majority of 11,440. [51] [52] [53]
In May 2020,Bryant was elected as the Chair of the Commons Select Committee on Standards and Commons Select Committee of Privileges,. [54] In October 2021,he chaired the Standards Committee's decision on the sanction to be applied to Owen Paterson for breaching lobbying rules relating to paid advocacy which triggered the parliamentary second jobs controversy. [55] In April 2022,due to having already expressed views about the Partygate scandal,Bryant recused himself from the subsequent investigation by the Privileges Committee into whether Boris Johnson had committed contempt of parliament over statements to the House of Commons concerning alleged parties. [56]
Bryant came tenth in the Private Members Bill ballot in the 2021–2022 Session of Parliament and introduced the Acquired Brain Injury Bill on 10 November 2021,which would require the Government to produce,implement and review a national strategy for acquired brain injury. He withdrew the Bill when the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,Sajid Javid,announced that Bryant and Gillian Keegan,the minister for Care and Mental Health,would co-chair a cross-government programme board to draw up a national strategy in December 2021. Keegan said:“All Government departments are invited to join the board. The strategy will be kept under review and revised periodically,to ensure it continues to reflect the priority areas and actions needed to support those living with ABI,and their families.” [57]
In December 2021,Bryant told the BBC in an interview that he felt "less physically safe as a gay man than he did 30 years ago." While denying that Boris Johnson himself was homophobic,he accused those around him of being happy to "stir the pot." As evidence,he cited the government's stance on transgender people and their attitude towards conversion therapy. [58]
Bryant campaigned for the UK Government to introduce Magnitsky Sanctions on those who abuse human rights around the world and co-chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Magnitsky Sanctions with Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP and is a Member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
In the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle,he was appointed Shadow Minister for the Creative Industries and Digital. [59]
