Patrick Bosco McFadden (born 26 March 1965) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions since 2025, having previously served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 2024 to 2025. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South East since 2005.
Born in Paisley, McFadden was educated at Holyrood Secondary School. He studied politics at the University of Edinburgh and was chair of Scottish Labour Students from 1986 to 1987. After leaving university, he worked for Labour Scottish affairs spokesman Donald Dewar and Labour leader John Smith. He then worked for Tony Blair, serving as Political Secretary to the Prime Minister from 2002 to 2005. McFadden was elected to Parliament as MP for Wolverhampton South East at the 2005 general election. He joined the government frontbench as Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office in 2006 before being promoted to Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs under Gordon Brown. In 2009, he was promoted to a cabinet-attending role as Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, deputy to Business Secretary Peter Mandelson.
After Labour's defeat in the 2010 general election, McFadden was shadow business secretary in the interm shadow cabinet of Harriet Harman from May to October 2010. He unsuccessfully sought election to the shadow cabinet and then subsequently returned to the backbenches. McFadden rejoined the frontbench as shadow europe minister under Ed Miliband in 2014 and was reappointed by Jeremy Corbyn in 2015. McFadden was dismissed by Corbyn in 2016, and remained on the backbenches until he was appointed Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury in 2020 by Keir Starmer. He was promoted to the shadow cabinet in 2021 as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and became Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 2023.
McFadden returned to the government following Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, and was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations by Starmer in his ministry. While serving in the Cabinet Office, he undertook several civil service and public sector reforms, including abolishing ACOBA and establishing the Ethics and Integrity Commission. In the 2025 cabinet reshuffle, McFadden was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. During his tenure under Starmer, he oversaw the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, and enacted welfare reform to reduce public spending and increase employment. McFadden nominated Andy Burnham in the 2026 leadership election and was subsequently reappointed to the position in the Burnham ministry.
Early life and education Patrick McFadden was born on 26 March 1965 in Paisley. He is the son of James McFadden and Annie McFadden (), both native Irish speakers from just outside Falcarragh, a village in County Donegal in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. As a child, Pat McFadden regularly visited County Donegal.
McFadden was educated at Holy Cross RC Primary School on Calder Street and Holyrood Secondary School in Crosshill, south-east Glasgow. He later attended the University of Edinburgh from 1983 to 1987, earning an MA degree in politics.
He was chair of Scottish Labour Students in 1986–87.
Early career In 1988 he became a researcher for Donald Dewar, then Labour's Scottish Affairs spokesman.
In 1993, he left this role to become a speechwriter and policy adviser to the Labour leader John Smith.
Prior to becoming an MP, he worked in several advisory roles for Tony Blair, both in opposition and government, and was the Prime Minister's Political Secretary from 2002.'The Rt Hon Pat Jimmy Den Rua MP Documentary, TV Listings, www.tg4.ie, 16 September 2013.
Parliamentary career
Early career and ministerial roles (2005–2010)
McFadden was elected as MP for Wolverhampton South East at the 2005 general election with 59.4% of the vote and a majority of 10,495.
In the 2006 reshuffle he was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office. In the 2007 reshuffle he was promoted to Minister of State in the then newly created Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform with responsibility for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs.
In October 2008, when Peter Mandelson replaced John Hutton as Business Secretary, McFadden took on duties as his deputy in order to represent the department in the House of Commons as Mandelson was a peer and could only address the Lords. McFadden was contemporaneously appointed to the Privy Council.
Allegations over expenses
In the 2009 United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, it had emerged that McFadden had claimed £5,581 in legal fees, stamp duty, and solicitors fees relating to the purchase of a second home in his Wolverhampton constituency. McFadden originally rented a home in the constituency, but after that one was sold, he wanted to have a permanent home in the constituency. This meant that the monthly cost increased from £500 in rent to £663 in monthly mortgage payments. McFadden also claimed another £969.47 on lights, curtains and blinds and £71 on bins. He also claimed another £356 for four dining room chairs, which was queried by the fees office. In response, McFadden stated that he had checked with the fees office whether the furniture bills were within the guidelines before claiming them, and said that any furniture bought for his second home were one-off costs. In opposition
Early years (2010–2014) At the 2010 general election, McFadden was re-elected as MP for Wolverhampton South East with a decreased vote share of 47.7% and a decreased majority of 6,593. After Labour's defeat in the general election and the resignation of Gordon Brown, McFadden was named in interim leader Harriet Harman's shadow cabinet as Shadow Business Secretary. In the role, McFadden advocated for Labour to accept and confront the deficit, and warned that if it did not do so, then the party would risk losing support. In a speech to the Fabian society, he stated that "as the pain of the government's cuts bites, public opposition to them will grow, but people will still want to know what we would do differently – and they won't believe us if our answer is just that we could make it all go away."
McFadden supported David Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election. When Ed Miliband was elected as Labour leader in September 2010, McFadden announced his decision to stand in Labour's shadow cabinet election but was not elected.
From November 2011 to November 2014, McFadden served on the Treasury Select Committee. He also served as Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (Joint Committee) from July 2012 to June 2013.
Miliband frontbench (2014–2015) In the 2014 Shadow Cabinet reshuffle, Miliband appointed McFadden as shadow minister for Europe. In the position, he opposed Brexit, but argued that Labour agreed there was a need for change in Europe. He stated that he wanted to make a "hard-headed, patriotic case for both Britain in Europe and for change in Europe so that it works for working people."
In October 2014, after the UK was told to pay an extra £1.7 billion to the European Union budget, McFadden called on Prime Minister David Cameron to work with allies in Europe to put pressure on the European Commissioner to reconsider the proposed change.
McFadden was again re-elected at the 2015 general election, with an increased vote share of 53.3% and an increased majority of 10,767. Following the defeat of the Labour Party in the election and the resignation of Miliband, McFadden nominated Liz Kendall in the subsequent Labour Party leadership election.
Corbyn frontbench (2015–2016) McFadden retained his post as Shadow Europe Minister when Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader.
McFadden came under scrutiny after The Times reported that McFadden had claimed £21,875 in expenses to cover the cost of renting a second home in constituency, while he was letting out the property he owned next door. It was reported that he claimed £7,500 rent in 2014, whilst also owning a home in London valued at £1.2 million. The arrangement was within the rules the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), but former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, Alistair Graham, described it as "pretty scandalous" and against the spirit of the new expenses system.
McFadden was dismissed from the frontbench along with Michael Dugher in January 2016. He was dismissed for what the leadership described as repeated acts of disloyalty, including when, responding to a Stop the War article on the Paris bombings, he condemned "the view that sees terrorist acts as always being a response or a reaction to what we in the west do". John McDonnell said that McFadden's remarks, expressed in a question to the Prime Minister and interpreted as an attack on Corbyn, were an example of him undermining the leader's view. McFadden was defended by Ian Austin and Chris Leslie. Jonathan Reynolds and Stephen Doughty expressed support for McFadden in their resignation letters the following day.
Backbenches (2016–2020)
He supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.
At the snap 2017 general election, McFadden was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 58.2% and a decreased majority of 8,514. He served on the Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union from October 2016 to May 2017 and again from September 2017 to November 2019.
McFadden was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 46.4% and a decreased majority of 1,235. In the 2020 Labour leadership election, McFadden supported and nominated Jess Phillips. In the concurrent deputy leadership election, he supported and nominated Ian Murray. He briefly served on the Business and Trade Select Committee from March to May 2020.
Starmer frontbench (2020–2024) On 9 April 2020, McFadden was appointed as Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury by new party leader Keir Starmer. He was promoted to Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the November 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle.
In the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Labour Party National Campaign Coordinator.
In May 2024, the criticism surrounding the expenses of McFadden, which had previously been reported by the Times in 2015, resurfaced after The Telegraph reported on further details in the controversy. It was revealed that despite the criticism in 2015, McFadden kept the arrangement for a further two years, during which the amount he claimed almost doubled to £40,250. He eventually sold the house in November 2017 for a loss of £12,950. A Labour spokesperson said that he had complied with IPSA rules "at all times", and commented that McFadden had sold the property for a loss, which he "paid for personally". In an interview with Sky News, McFadden continued to deny that he had broken any rules, and said that he had followed them as they were written at the time.
Return to government
Cabinet Office (2024–2025)
At the 2024 general election, McFadden was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 50.3% and an increased majority of 9,188. After the general election, McFadden was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations by Keir Starmer to serve in his ministry.