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backbencher

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,947 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: backbenchers

A backbencher is an elected member holding no senior post. A Labour backbencher, backbench opinion, a rebellious backbencher.

The name is literal: in the Commons, ministers and shadow ministers sit on the front benches and everybody else behind them. Backbenchers are freer to say what they think, since they have no position to lose, which makes them the ones worth listening to.

Definitions of backbencher

  1. 1nounbackbencherAn elected member holding no senior post.C1

    “A little-known backbencher asked the Prime Minister an awkward question about hospital waiting lists.”

backbencher is a politician.

Where it comes from

From backbench + -er.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Politics & Society

Practise this word

backbencher in the wild

  • In most parliamentary systems, individual backbenchers have little power to affect government policy.

    Backbencher

  • Government backbenchers carry considerable influence when they are in a party with a small majority.

    Backbencher

  • The incumbent Margaret Thatcher was opposed by the little-known 69-year-old backbencher MP Sir Anthony Meyer.

    1989 Conservative Party leadership election

  • From 2019 to 2022 he sat as a backbencher, serving as Chair of the Treasury Select Committee.

    Mel Stride

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.