Steve Yemm was elected Labour MP for Mansfield on 4 July 2024, restoring a seat Labour had held from 1923 to 2017 before the red wall collapse. Born in January 1964 and a lifelong Mansfield resident, he read Applied Chemistry at the University of Nottingham, began as a research scientist, then moved into IT and software, and at the time of his election was Chief Commercial Officer at Optibrium, a Cambridge software company applying artificial intelligence in life sciences, a more substantial career than "IT and commercial roles" conveys.

His political grounding is local and long: he chaired the Mansfield Constituency Labour Party for nine years from 2008 to 2017. In the 2011 Mansfield mayoral election he won the most first-preference votes but lost by just 67 on second preferences to the sitting independent mayor Tony Egginton, a near miss that reads differently given he went on to win the parliamentary seat 13 years later.

The man he defeated was no ordinary incumbent: Ben Bradley, who had taken Mansfield in 2017 after Alan Meale's 30 years, was simultaneously leader of Nottinghamshire County Council and the Conservative candidate for East Midlands Mayor, one of the highest-profile Conservatives in the region. Yemm beat him with 16,048 votes (39.1 percent) and a majority of 3,485 (8.5 percent), with Reform UK on 22.8 percent. In January 2025 he called on the government to release surplus funds from the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme, a campaign aimed directly at Mansfield's retired mineworkers and their families. He sits on the Business and Trade Committee.

His record carries one conduct blemish: he received a £10,000 donation from Power Saving Solutions, a Mansfield company, then praised it in a Commons debate without declaring the interest, for which he apologised and referred himself to the parliamentary standards commissioner. Yemm's strengths include lifelong Mansfield residence, a Nottingham Applied Chemistry degree, a research-scientist and AI life-sciences commercial background, nine years as CLP chairman, winning the first round of the 2011 mayoral election, restoring a 94 year Labour seat after seven years, the miners' pension campaign, and the Business and Trade Committee matching his commercial experience. His weaknesses include the £10,000 declaration failure, a 3,485 majority (8.5 percent), Reform at 22.8 percent, no ministerial office, no legislative achievement, and the structural vulnerability of a seat where Reform's second place could intensify. At 62, with the chemistry degree, the AI life-sciences role and the miners' pension campaign, he has a more substantial professional background than first appears. Whether the miners' pension campaign and committee work produce visible outcomes for Mansfield will determine whether the 94 year Labour tradition is restored or merely interrupted.