Peter Prinsley was elected Labour MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket on 4 July 2024 with a majority of 1,452 (2.85 percent). He did not expect to win. When the party selected him, he was told it was the third safest Conservative seat in England. He defeated Will Tanner, who had been Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, to become the first Labour MP in the constituency's history, after 43 years as an NHS surgeon.

Born April 1958 in Ilkley into a Labour political family, three of his relatives sat in Parliament: his uncles George and Santo Jeger and his aunt Lena Jeger, Baroness Jeger, who represented Holborn and St Pancras. He worked for 43 years as an NHS ear, nose and throat surgeon, holding consultant posts at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the James Paget Hospital simultaneously, served as Regional Director for the Royal College of Surgeons in East Anglia, and is an Honorary Commander of the United States Air Force 48th Wing medical group at RAF Lakenheath, the US air base within his constituency, an unusual credential for a British ENT surgeon. He entered politics late, winning a seat on Norwich City Council in 2023, described as the first doctor elected there in living memory, and sought candidacies in Norwich North and Great Yarmouth before being selected for this seat when the election was called.

He continued operating at both hospitals after his election, until in March 2025 he retired from the NHS after 43 years, saying "the NHS has been my life" but that his constituents "deserve my undivided attention." He stepped down from Norwich City Council the same month. He sits on the Home Affairs Committee. He noted during the campaign that there were now four Labour doctors in Parliament and hoped "they will be of some use."

Prinsley's strengths include 43 years of NHS surgical experience, one of the longest medical careers of any serving MP, consultant posts at two hospitals, Regional Director of the Royal College of Surgeons, three Labour MP relatives, Honorary Commander at RAF Lakenheath, a Home Affairs Committee placement, and the historic achievement of being the first Labour MP in one of England's most Conservative areas. His weaknesses include a 1,452 majority making this one of the most vulnerable Labour seats in the country, the fact he lives in Norwich rather than the constituency, having been a councillor for only one year, the controversy over continuing to operate while sitting as an MP, and the reality that defeating Sunak's former Deputy Chief of Staff in a Conservative meltdown does not guarantee holding the seat when conditions change. At 67, he is unlikely to serve more than two terms. Whether 43 years of NHS experience translates into measurable health policy influence within that window will determine whether his surprise victory becomes a footnote or a career.