Poulter was elected as
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Central Suffolk and North Ipswich at the
2010 UK general election with 50.8% of the vote and a majority of 13,786. In 2011, he was credited with a "lifesaving" intervention in Parliament when he persuaded fellow Conservative MP
Guy Opperman to seek urgent medical treatment. Opperman subsequently had a brain tumour removed. Poulter resigned from the
British Medical Association in 2012, following an announced doctors' strike. He said he did not believe "striking as a doctor could ever be justified". In September 2012, Poulter became the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the
Department of Health. His primary responsibilities as a Health Minister were for workforce issues,
NHS estates and IT systems. At the
2015 UK general election, Poulter was re-elected as MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, with an increased vote share of 56.1% and an increased majority of 20,144. After the election, Poulter returned to the back benches, and restarted work part-time as a doctor. In October 2015, Poulter expressed his support for protests by doctors and others against the Conservative government's proposed changes to the junior doctors' contract. In April 2016, Poulter widened his criticism of the Conservative government, in a
Guardian article. Poulter was opposed to
Brexit prior to the
2016 EU membership referendum. He later voted along party lines concerning leaving the EU. At the snap
2017 UK general election, Poulter was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 60.1% and a decreased majority of 17,185. He was re-elected at the
2019 UK general election, with an increased vote share of 62.7%, and an increased majority of 23,391. In a March 2022 article penned by Poulter for the
East Anglian Daily Times, he said "studies of healthy omnivores eating a diet rich in plant foods have failed to find consistent evidence that red meat is unhealthy". In December 2022, he wrote an article in
The Guardian advocating for increasing nurses' pay during the
2022 National Health Service strikes. On 27 April 2024, Poulter defected to the
Labour Party, the second Conservative MP to defect to Labour during that parliament after
Christian Wakeford crossed the floor in 2022. Poulter also declared that he would not be seeking re-election at the
2024 general election.
Sunday Times libel case In February 2019,
The Sunday Times apologised in open court to Dan Poulter for falsely alleging he had sexually assaulted three female MPs. The newspaper admitted the claims were defamatory and baseless, removed the articles from its website, and agreed not to republish them. It also paid substantial damages and covered Poulter's legal costs. The allegations had appeared in two articles published in November 2017, based on claims by
Andrew Bridgen MP. A Conservative Party investigation exonerated Poulter, finding no complaints had ever been made against him and dismissing the claims as lacking "reliable evidence." == References ==